Let's Celebrate MOM's!

We’ve all been there. It’s the end of a long day. We’re wheeling our young child through a grocery aisle gauntlet of cartoon characters beckoning from boxes of food we don’t want to buy. She demands an offending product. Maybe we say no despite her nagging. Maybe we give in. Whatever we do, our day is that much harder because corporate marketers—using one of their most powerful weapons: the media icons beloved by young children—have injected themselves between us and our kids.

Advocates to Rahm Emanuel: No Coke Ads on Residential Recycling Bins

Date of Release:

Friday, April 26, 2013

Contact: Josh Golin (617.896.9368; josh@commercialfreechildhood.org)

For Immediate Release

Advocates to Rahm Emanuel: No Coke Ads on Residential Recycling Bins

Give Me a (Screen) Break

by:

Koa Halpern, Fast Food Free

Hi, I’m Koa Halpern. I am 15 years old, and I started my own nonprofit when I was 10. My nonprofit is called Fast Food Free, and its goal is to get people to eat less fast food through education and community awareness, which results in healthier people and a better world.

Tell Rahm Emanuel: No Coke Ads on Residential Recycling Bins

Image: City of Chicago recycling webpage

If we don’t act now, the steady erosion of ad-free personal space and the escalation of unavoidable marketing will get a lot worse.

This week, the City of Chicago announced that Coca-Cola will donate 50,000 blue bins for household recycling. Sounds generous, but it’s really a cleverly disguised purchase of advertising space. In exchange, the bin lids will feature images of Coca-Cola products.

Retailer Just Says No to Exploiting Children

by:

Michele Simon, JD, MPH

"All products that feature trademarked cartoon characters have been discontinued."

As the frequent bearer of bad news about the food industry, I am thrilled to share a positive story. Last month, MOM's Organic Market, a small retail chain based in the Baltimore area, announced it would stop carrying products featuring children's cartoon characters:

Products ranging from Dora the Explorer frozen soybeans to Elmo juice boxes will be discontinued and replaced with organic alternatives in cartoon-free packaging.

Feds to Parents: Big Food Still Exploiting Your Children, Good Luck with That

by:

Michele Simon

If you wanted to ensure a report gets buried, a good time to release it would be the Friday before a holiday week. That the Federal Trade Commission released its latest report on marketing to children then speaks volumes about how seriously the Obama administration is taking this intractable problem.

Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity

Even though obesity rates are at a record high, children continue to be inundated with marketing for foods high in fat, sugar, salt and calories. The food industry exploits every technology and technique available to insinuate its brands into the fabric of childhood.

Happy Meal Makeover: How a Healthy Food Coalition Defeated a Fast Food Icon

Outlines how the Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance to place limits—based on specific nutrition criteria—on how toys are marketed by restaurants in San Francisco.

Why the Happy Meal is a Crime

CCFC’s Michele Simon explains why marketing to young children is deceptive and therefore illegal, and refutes the argument that advertising to children is protected by the First Amendment.

Congress to Kids: Drop Dead

Congress is requiring the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a cost/benefit analysis before finalizing a report that would provide the food industry with science-based, voluntary nutrition guidelines for marketing to children. The article includes an examination of how congress recurrently puts corporate interests ahead of children’s health.

Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood

Food Marketing