September 6, 2001
For Immediate Release

Contact:
Andrew Hagelshaw
, (415) 377-8734; andy@commercialfree.org

Dr. Susan Linn, (617) -232-8390; Susan_Linn@jbcc.harvard.edu

Dr. Diane Levin, (617) 879-2167; Dlevin@Wheelock.edu

"Have You Lost Your Marbles" Awards Blast Pernicious Marketing to Children while Praising Sweden's Stand

New York City– Uncovering ways that children can nag more effectively so parents will buy things for them; sexualizing images of young children to market products; using compulsory schooling laws to require more than eight million public school children to watch daily televised commercials in their classrooms - these are just some commercial exploitations of children that the humorous and pointed "Have You Lost Your Marbles" Awards will highlight during a Noon rally on Monday, September 10 across 42nd Street from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Inside the Hyatt, the ad industry will be presenting its "Golden Marble" Awards -- awards that celebrate marketing to kids without questioning the affect of their products and marketing messages on the well-being of children and families.

During the rally, the Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children coalition (SCEC), will draw attention to positive developments by presenting its Inspirational Leadership Award to the Swedish Government for its leadership in the European Union to ban television advertising to children, showing how individual governments can act to protect children from commercial exploitation.

The rally follows the Commercialization of Childhood: How Marketing Harms Children summit, from 9 AM to Noon at the Grand Hyatt (42nd St. and Park Ave.), where distinguished educators, psychologists, children's advocates and physicians will address the damage caused by the annual $12 Billion flood of marketing to children in the U.S.

"The alternative awards and the summit are a call to action," says SCEC's Dr. Diane Levin, author of Remote Control Childhood?: Combating the Hazards of Media Culture. "They will help spark a sorely needed national discussion about how much we allow our children's fate to fall into the hands of the nation's marketers."

Attached is the complete list of "Have You Lost Your Marbles" awards and the complete list of Commercialization of Childhood summit speakers.

Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children unites more than 20 national and regional organizations working for children (see www.commercialexploitation.com).

THE STOP COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN LEADERSHIP AWARDS

THE DAVID AND GOLIATH AWARD FOR CONFRONTING CORPORATE MARKETING IN SCHOOLS: Stonington, Connecticut high school student Tristan Kading

For refusing to go along with a school assembly used to promote McDonalds, demonstrating how one person can stand up to commercial exploitation of children.

Presented by Andrew Hagelshaw, Center for Commercial Free Public Education

THE INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD: The Government of Sweden

For leading the fight in the European Union to ban television advertising to children, setting an example for how individual governments can act to protect children from commercial exploitation.

Presented by Alvin Poussaint, M.D., Harvard Medical School

THE "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MARBLES?" AWARDS

HYPOCRISY AWARD: Teletubbies and itsy bitsy Entertainment

For making unsubstantiated claims that the TV program Teletubbies, broadcast on PBS, is educational for children as young as 12 months old, and for creating toy promotions with McDonalds and Burger King while claiming to be a leader in the fight against childhood obesity.

Presented by: Diane Levin, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Wheelock College

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE AWARD: Channel One Network.

For using the public schools and the compulsory schooling laws to require more than eight million children to watch its daily commercials in their classrooms. Channel One TV programs market violent movies, junk food and other commercial fare to this captive audience.

Presented by James Metrock, Obligation, Inc.

ABUSE OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AWARD: The psychologists at Applied Research & Consulting

For making their knowledge of child psychology available to corporations and the advertising industry -- who then use this knowledge to manipulate children for profit.

Presented by Dr. Priscilla Hambrick-Dixon, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Hunter College-City University of New York.

HARM TO FAMILIES AWARD: Lieberman Research World Wide and Western Media International

For adding to the burden of already stressed families, by conducting research on nagging that enables corporations to help children nag more effectively.

Dr. Velma LaPoint, Associate Professor of Human Development and Psycho-Educational Studies in the School of Education, Howard University.

DISTORTION OF TEEN BODY IMAGE AWARD: Reebok and its ad agency Bartle, Bogle Hegarty, LLC.

For the "Classics" ad campaign, which uses synthetic sexuality to sell sneakers to teens.

Presented by Joe Kelly, Dads and Daughters

Panelists for The Commercialization of Childhood: How Marketing Harms Children

Enola Aird J.D., Director of the Motherhood Project at the Institute for American Values.

Dr. Amy Aidman, Senior Research Fellow for the Center for Media Education, Washington, DC.

Joan Almon, Coordinator of the Alliance for Childhood in College Park, Maryland, which published Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood.

Dr. Joanne Cantor, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus and author of Mommy I'm Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do To Protect Them.

Dr. Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology at New York University and Director of the Project on Media Ownership.

Tracy Fisher, Youth Campaign Director at The Center for a New American Dream in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Nell Geiser, a high school senior in Boulder Colorado.

Mavis Gruver, a student at Antioch College and intern at Ms. Magazine.

Andrew Hagelshaw, Executive Director of the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education in Oakland, California.

Dr. Priscilla Hambrick-Dixon, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Hunter College-City University of New York.

Dr. Allen Kanner, psychologist at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

Dr. Tim Kasser, Associate Professor of Psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. His The Value of Materialism: A Psychological Inquiry, will be published next spring by MIT Press.

Joe Kelly, executive Director of Dads and Daughters in Duluth, Minnesota. Broadway Books releases his book, Dads and Daughters: How to Inspire, Understand, and Support Your Daughter When She's Growing Up So Fast in April, 2002.

Dr. Jean Kilbourne, Visiting Research Scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women; author of Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel; and producer of films including "Pack of Lies" and "Killing Us Softly."

Dr. Velma LaPoint, Associate Professor of Human Development and Psycho-Educational Studies in the School of Education, Howard University.

Dr. Diane Levin, Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, a founder of Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children Entertainment (TRUCE),and author of Remote Control Childhood?: Combating the Hazards of Media Culture.

Dr. Jane Levine, Co-founder of Kids Can Made A Difference in Kittery Point, Maine.

Dr. Susan Linn, Associate Director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston and Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Media Center of Judge Baker Children's Center. He is co-author of Lay My Burden Down: Unraveling Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African-Americans.

Steven P.Shelov, M.D., chairman of the department of Pediatrics at Maimonedes Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York and editor in chief of Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, an official publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Alan Warhaftig, Director of Learning in the Real World, Woodland, CA.

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