Commercialism Corner

Commercialism Corner: Your one-stop shop for quick summaries and links to all the latest news about the commercialization of childhood.

The Next Great American Consumer--Infants to 3-year-olds: They're a new demographic marketers are hell-bent on reaching - Marketers talk about "beginning a relationship with the child" from birth by getting their brands in front of babies earlier than ever. Adweek covers this new trend of marketers targeting infants. http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/next-great-american-consumer-135207?page=1

Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect – As described in this article, the commercialized sexualization of girls through media and marketing has startling effects. Learn what CCFC, SPARK Summit, Hardy Girls Healthy Women and other advocacy groups are doing to make childhood better for girls. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0924/Little-girls-or-little-women-The-Disney-princess-effect

Regulators propose tougher online privacy protections for kids – The FTC has proposed important changes to the implementation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The proposed rules would prevent companies from tracking children online for behavioral advertising and empower parents to control how and whether their children's private information is used across digital platforms. Read the L.A. Times article here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/regulators-propose-tougher-online-privacy-protections-for-kids.html and CCFC’s statement in support of the proposed changes here: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/pressreleases/ftcnewcopparules.html

Ads for PG-13 Movies in Kids' Media? Motion Picture Association Says for These Films, It's Fine – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit, or CARU, the ad industry’s self-regulatory group, finds PG-13 movies marketed to younger kids. But when they bring it to the attention of the Motion Picture Association of America, MPAA says it’s fine because they approved the ads. This has been the pattern for CARU’s work on PG-13 movie marketing. http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/caru-finds-pg-13-movies-advertised-kids-13/229993/

Battle of commercial interests confound fight against noncommunicable diseases – The UN talks on global efforts to reduce noncommunicable diseases, including obesity, present serious tensions between commercial and public health interests. Public health advocates want rules to protect children from junk food advertising, but junk food marketers fiercely oppose the idea. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/battle-of-commercial-interests-loom-over-fight-against-noncommunicable-diseases/2011/09/20/gIQAy0rZjK_story.html

Viacom spent $600,000 lobbying government in 2Q – Viacom, Nickelodeon’s parent company, spent $600,000 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on advertising to children. Add this to the $1.1 million it spent in the first quarter, and that’s a whole lot of money from a single corporation influencing congress to let marketers keep on targeting children. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PROMEG1.htm

Karen Heller: Offer of soda-industry funds fell flat, as it should have – In a fantastic show of leadership, Philadelphia’s Nutter administration turns down an offer of a soda-industry sponsored anti-obesity campaign.  He says, “"It seems to me that accepting money from the beverage industry to fight obesity would be like taking money from the NRA to fight gun violence or from the tobacco industry for smoking cessations…I mean, it's ludicrous." http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-14/news/30154569_1_beverage-tax-obesity-health-centers