Take Action
Shut Down HappyMeal.com
"If you have $1 to spend on marketing, spend it on kids." – Ray Kroc, founder, McDonald’s. For years, McDonald’s has been the worst-of-the-worst when it comes to marketing to kids. No other brand targets young children so relentlessly. And the consequences are dire: junk food consumption is linked to a host of diet-related diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. And at time when parents and advocates for children are urging junk food marketers to stop targeting children, McDonald’s... Read more...
Help Us Stop the Deceptive Advertising of Baby Apps
Update: August 15 -- Just five days after being cited in CCFC’s complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, Open Solutions stopped making educational claims about its apps for babies. The company eliminated all claims that their apps teach babies language, math, logic, and reading skills from their product promotions. As a result of Open Solutions' changes to their marketing, we’ve withdrawn our FTC complaint against them. It’s the latest in a long string of victories in CCFC’s... Read more...
Protect Students' Privacy
Update April 2014: Thanks to widespread parent protests, each of the nine states originally committed to participate in this controversial project have either officially withdrawn or have no plans to move forward. For all intents and purposes, inBloom is no longer a threat to students. Several states plan to help corporations profit from schoolchildren’s most sensitive and confidential information. Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina are committed... Read more...
Save the Tooth Fairy!
CCFC has uncovered a ploy by past and present toy-industry executives who are looking to brand the Tooth Fairy. “Can you believe,” begins a video aimed exclusively at potential investors, “that a childhood character known by millions worldwide has not yet been licensed?” To the alluring “ca-ching” of a cash register ringing up sales, a voice-over exclaims, “With a target audience of 10 million US girls ages 6 to 10 who lose 20 teeth, that translates to 200 million Tooth-Fairy moments. And... Read more...
Facebook: Do not target kids 12 and under
Unless we act now, children as young as 6 could soon be targeted by Facebook’s marketing machine. The social networking giant for teens and adults is considering lowering its current age restrictions to allow accounts for children 12 and under. It’s a terrible idea. Facebook’s business model is predicated upon marketing and data collection practices that will, by their very nature, exploit young peoples’ well-documented developmental vulnerabilities. That’s why CCFC is working with a broad... Read more...
Protect Colorado Student's Privacy
Update: As of 11/13/13, Education Commissioner Robert Hammond announced Colorado has become the 6th state to pull out of inBloom. The Colorado Department of Education plans to help corporations profit from schoolchildren’s most sensitive and confidential information without even obtaining parental permission. Colorado is one of five states committed to planning to share personal student data with inBloom, Inc. a corporation funded by the Gates Foundation. This information—... Read more...
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. But it doesn’t... Read more...
Protect Massachusetts Students' Privacy
Update: As of 3/11/14, Massachusetts has no plans to move forward with inBloom. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education plans to help corporations profit from schoolchildren’s most sensitive and confidential information. Massachusetts is one of five states committed to participate in the development and pilot testing of inBloom, a Gates Foundation initiative. Student information—including your child’s name, home address, email address, test scores,... Read more...
Tell Rahm Emanuel: No Coke Ads on Residential Recycling Bins
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. It’s great that Chicago is expanding its recycling services, but residents should be able to... Read more...