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Protecting Kids From Marketing, Ads, And Commercialization
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The Teletubbies show was born in Britain, and came to PBS in 1998, billed as an educational show for kids.
But the show didn't charm Susan Linn. In fact, it helped transform her from a worried parent to an outright activist.
Linn was the Founding Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based advocacy group committed to limiting marketing and commercialization that target children. In her work, she's taken on some powerful corporate interests from Hasbro, to Walt Disney and McDonald's — and won.
This conversation originally aired on June 25, 2015.
Guests
Susan Linn, founding director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based consumer group. After 15 year at the helm of CCFC, she's stepping down at the end of June.
Dr. Eugene Beresin, executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital. He tweets @GeneBeresinMD.
More
The Boston Globe: Children's Advocate Susan Linn Moving On
- "Linn says research shows children are especially vulnerable to marketing because they cannot distinguish between advertising and programming. And marketing, she argues, is a factor in body-image disorders, youth violence, substance abuse, and other problems."
Radio Boston: Here Are 8 Issues With YouTube Kids
- "It’s the most hyper-commercialized media environment for children I’ve ever seen, and it obliterates long-standing principles and rules that are designed to protect children from unfair marketing."
This segment aired on November 27, 2015.