March 20, 2006

Contact:  Josh Golin  617-896-9369  josh<at>commercialfreechildhood.org

For Immediate Release:

“STOP BRANDING BABIES,” CCFC URGES NOTED PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANIZATION

TO GET OUT OF THE BABY VIDEO BUSINESS 

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is urging Zero to Three, the nation’s leading advocates for infants and toddlers, to end its partnership with Sesame Workshop to produce a series of DVDs for babies called Sesame Beginnings.  Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recommendation that children under two spend no time with screen media, Sesame Beginnings is designed for babies as young as six months. The first two Sesame Beginnings DVDs – Beginning Together and Make Music Together – will be released on April 4.

 “When a trusted public health organization like Zero to Three produces screen media for babies, they undermine their own credibility and parents’ best efforts to raise healthy children,” said noted psychiatrist, Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint of the Judge Baker Children's Center and Harvard Medical School, “Zero to Three claims they want parents to ‘understand how to make better TV/video viewing choices for young children.’  But how can Zero to Three provide parents with the information they need to make these choices when they have a vested interest in promoting a particular brand of videos?” 

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, the nation’s leading pediatrician and author of 39 books on pediatrics and child development is deeply concerned about the impact of media on children: “I absolutely support the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that children under two be kept away from screen media.  It’s too expensive for them physically as well as psychologically.” 

There is no evidence that screen media is beneficial for babies and growing concern that it may be harmful.   Research suggests that television viewing for babies is negatively associated with cognitive and language development, regular sleep patterns, and time spent interacting with parents and engaged in creative play. A review of children’s videos by CCFC found more than 200 titles that were being marketed for children under two. 

On Friday, March 17, CCFC sent a letter to Zero to Three Executive Director Matthew Melmed asking him to end Zero to Three’s partnership with Sesame Beginnings and work instead to educate parents about the potential harms of screen media for young children.  The letter notes that only 6% of parents are aware of the AAP’s recommendation and that Zero to Three’s involvement in Sesame Beginnings will make it even easier to justify their young children’s media use. The letter also states that Zero to Three’s rationale for participating in Sesame Beginnings – to promote healthy parent-child interaction – is laudable, but that parents can be educated without luring babies to screens.

“Sesame Beginnings is just one more effort to establish brand loyalty in babies, encouraging their devotion to TV characters who have been licensed to promote hundreds of other products, including sugary fruit snacks, vacation resorts, and electronic toys like the Tickle Me Elmo series that diminish rather than encourage creative play,” said CCFC’s co-founder Dr. Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids.  “A public health organization should not be in the business of branding babies or helping the media industry insinuate media and marketing in the lives of our youngest, most vulnerable children.” 

Zero to Three claims that since many babies are watching videos anyway, it is important that content is developmentally appropriate.  But, according to Dr. David Elkind, Professor of Child Development at Tufts University and author of The Hurried Child, a better goal would be to encourage parents to keep babies and toddlers away from screens entirely: “Infants learn best, most easily and readily, from their own self-initiated play activities. And these activities utilize all of the senses:  touch, smell and taste as well as seeing and hearing. Infants don't need videos to learn about the world of things. Videos can deprive the infant of precious time-consuming effort spent in exploring, and recreating, his or her immediate world.”

CCFC called on Zero to Three to honor their mission “to support the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families” and stop marketing branded DVDs for babies.  The letter urged Zero to Three to provide parents with the information they really need to make informed choices about media and to join with CCFC in publicizing the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations that parents refrain from placing children under two in front of screen media.

The complete text of CCFC’s letter to Zero to Three can be found at http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/pressreleases/lettertozerotothree.pdf

Other issues raised in the letter include:

• Concerns about the research. 
• Concerns that the combination of the Sesame brand and Zero to Three’s reputation will encourage more parents to place babies in front of screens.
• Concerns about Sesame Beginning’s claims that the DVDs will promote co-viewing.

Take Action: Tell Zero to Three to Stop Producing Baby Videos