October 31, 2006

Contact: Josh Golin (617) 278-4172 / jgolin@jbcc.harvard.edu

For Immediate Release

American Psychological Association Honors Child-Marketing Foe Susan Linn

(Boston) Highlighting her leadership in opposing marketing to children, the American Psychological Association has awarded Susan Linn, EdD its prestigious “Presidential Citation.” The award was presented on October 28, 2006 in Boston at the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood’s fifth annual summit, Consuming Kids: Marketing in Schools and Beyond.

While personally presenting the citation, Dr. Gerald Koocher, President, American Psychological Association, said, “You have focused sharp attention on the rights of children to grow up, and the rights of parents to raise them, without undermining by rampant consumer manipulation. The American Psychological Association takes pride in acknowledging and applauding both your current efforts and your sustained career contribution focused on the public interests of our must vulnerable citizens.”

An educational psychologist, Dr. Linn is co-founder of Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC); Associate Director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center; Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood.

Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at Judge Baker Children's Center and Harvard Medical School, called the APA Citation “A richly deserved honor for a psychologist who has made outstanding contributions to the well-being of children.”

Joe Kelly, President of the national nonprofit Dads & Daughters, said, “This APA recognition undermines the claims that marketing doesn’t harm kids and its impact is entirely the responsibility of parents. Kids and their families are swimming upstream against a flood of increasingly manipulative marketing, and they need our help.”

Linn is regularly quoted as one of the nation’s most vigorous advocates for reversing the onslaught of marketing to children. An Emmy award winning producer, ventriloquist and puppeteer, she was a regular guest on PBS’ “Mister Rogers Neighborhood.” She also pioneered the use of puppets to help children cope with illness, hospitalization and other difficult life challenges.

“I’m both touched and honored to receive the Presidential Citation,” Linn said. “I’m especially pleased that APA recognizes the important role psychologists can play as activists in the growing movement to stop the commercial exploitation of children.”

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration among organizations and individuals who care about children. CCFC supports the rights of children to grow up – and the rights of parents to raise them – without being undermined by rampant consumerism. For more information, please visit: www.commercialfreechildhood.org.