Major food companies, such as Kraft, Kellogg's and General Mills, have joined with the advertising industry to form the Alliance for American Advertising, a lobbying group "to defend the right to advertise to children."

In response, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has drafted a Statement on the Rights of Children, Families, and Food Marketers. The statement has already been endorsed by leading experts in child development, nutrition, and public health, as well as more than 50 organizations that advocate for children.

Please take a moment to add your name to the statement and join the growing alliance of those who value children more than the bottom line. 

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A Statement on the Rights of Children, Families, and Food Marketers

In response to the growing call for restrictions on marketing to children, major food companies, such as Kraft, Kellogg's and General Mills, have joined with the advertising industry to form the Alliance for American Advertising, a lobbying group "to defend the right to advertise to children."

It is alarming that, in the face of mounting evidence of harm associated with advertising to children, industry leaders are choosing to emphasize their rights without a commensurate focus on their responsibilities.

There is no absolute right to advertise to children. Children, as both common sense and the law recognize, deserve special protections because of their developmental vulnerabilities.

Children are bombarded with marketing every waking moment. Marketing is a factor in childhood obesity, eating disorders, and a wide range of other ills affecting children.

We believe that children have the right to grow up in a safe and healthy environment; that parents have the right to raise their children without being undermined by corporate marketers; that schools, communities, and nations, if they deem it necessary, have the right to restrict commercial access to children. Marketers do not have the right to exploit children for profit.

Advertisers and the food industry should focus on their responsibilities to children. We call on them to dissolve the Alliance for American Advertising and we pledge to step up our efforts on behalf of those who value children more than the bottom line.

 Add my name to the list of signatories