Geography: United States
Founded: 2000
Address:89 South Street
Boston, MA 02111
Who We Are
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups, parents, and individuals who care about children. CCFC is the only national organization devoted to limiting the impact of commercial culture on children. CCFC’s staff and Steering Committee are activists, authors, and leading experts on the impact of media and marketing on children. Most of us are also parents.
Our Mission
CCFC’s mission is to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. A marketing-driven media culture sells children on behaviors and values driven by the need to promote profit rather than the public good. The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the most serious problems facing children, and society, today. Childhood obesity, eating disorders, youth violence, sexualization, family stress, underage alcohol and tobacco use, rampant materialism, and the erosion of children’s creative play, are all exacerbated by advertising and marketing. When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture—dependence on the things we buy for life satisfaction, a “me first” attitude, conformity, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty—the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened. CCFC works for the rights of children to grow up—and the freedom for parents to raise them—without being undermined by commercial interests.
What We Do
CCFC advocates for the adoption of government policies that limit corporate marketers’ access to children. We mobilize parents, educators, and health care providers to stop the commercial exploitation of children.
- We hold corporations accountable for their egregious marketing practices and, in doing so, highlight both the failures of self-regulation and the need for government policies limiting corporate marketers’ access to children.
- We are building a substantial network of organizations and individuals who serve as a grassroots support for efforts to stop the commercial exploitation of children.
- We partner with organizations concerned about commercialism and those whose goals are undermined by advertising and marketing to children, including environmental groups as well as health and educational organizations.
- We bring people together. Our national Consuming Kids summits provide a wealth of information and a much needed opportunity for informal networking among parents, professionals, and advocates concerned about the Commercialization of Childhood.
- We create tools for reclaiming childhood from corporate marketers at home, at school, and in the community.