Call for Toy Companies to Market to Parents Not Children
CCFC to Toy Marketers: Leave Kids Alone during Economic Crisis;
Companies Urged to Target Parents Instead this Holiday Season
As families struggle to cope with the global economic crisis, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is urging major retailers and toy and game manufacturers to suspend holiday marketing aimed at children and to target parents instead. In a letter sent today to twenty-four CEO’s, CCFC urged companies not to exacerbate family stress by flooding children with ads for toys and games that their parents may not be able to afford. CCFC also launched a letter-writing campaign so that parents could share their concerns directly with companies planning to market to children this holiday season.
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/lettertoceo.pdf
You can visit the above link for the full press release.
I would recommend that parents consider scaling back the holidays to the bare minnimum. Someone once suggested this approach 1)something to wear, 2)something to read, 3)something to play with and I added 4)something to eat. We are following this with an addition- all goods must be either homemade or handmade, bought used or recycled, or fairly traded.
Please consider making changes to your holiday season. There are many more people in need this year than last and we aren’t talking lack of funds to buy toys, we are talking lack of funds to buy food and warm clothes. As a family we are helping by donating gently used clothing, buying small handmade gifts for children and collecting hats and mittens.
In addition, we have pledged to stop buying goods that are made in china. There are many toy companies that sell quality goods that are made in the US as well as some European made goods.
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