THURSDAY NIGHT CONVERSATION __ PLEASE COME!

Parenting For Peace : A Community Conversation about the Commercialization of Childhood Thursday November 11 5:30 -- Reception 6:00 -- 7:30 -- Program Childcare is available Feel free to bring supper with you Queries that will guide our conversation: ~ How does the value of simplicity shape our family lives? ~ What strategies can parents share about how to promote the value of simplicity in a commercial world? ~ When and how should children be protected from media and marketing, and when and how do they develop skills to critically engage? ~ What should the role of school be in all this? The Media Education Foundation has just released a film entitled Consuming Kids -- we can watch some of the film if there is interest in it, and FSP has a copy that can be loaned out. Here's the trailer A few facts from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (and more available) The United States deregulated the marketing of children in 1984, and "With deregulation, it became legal to sell toys and other products linked to specific TV programs for the first time. As a result, the toy and television industries quickly joined together to develop toy-linked TV shows. _Within one year of deregulation, 9 of the 10 best-selling toys were connected to TV shows_ (Carlsson-Paige & Levin, 1990)." *Marketing to children is a huge business *. Companies spend about $17 billion annually marketing to children, a staggering increase from the $100 million spent in 1983. . Children under 14 spend about $40 billion annually. Compare this to the $6.1 billion 4-12 year olds spent in 1989.9 10 Teens spend about $159 billion. . This generation of children is the most brand conscious ever. Teens between 13 and 17 have 145 conversations about brands per week, about twice as many as adults. . Children ages 2-11 see more than 25,000 advertisements a year on TV alone, a figure that does not include product placement. They are also targeted with advertising on the Internet, cell phones, mp3 players, video games, school buses, and in school. Resources The Center for the New American Dream (org. that pulls enviornmental concerns and strategies for lowering consumption) TRUCE -- Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment The Resource page connected to Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne's book "So Sexy So Soon" provides a great bibliography