Tell the DNC: Children’s Wellbeing Trumps Corporate Profits

Every four years the Democratic Party establishes a party platform, a document that outlines the party's stance on a wide range of issues.  As part of our efforts to ignite a national conversation about the commercialization of childhood, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is urging the Democratic Party to adopt a platform plank that commits the party to protecting children from the excesses of the marketing-driven media industry. 

Please take a moment to add your name to the petition below to urge the Democratic Platform Committee to make a strong statement that they value children’s wellbeing more than corporate profits.

The 2008 Democratic Party Platform should include a plank to protect our nation’s children from the excesses of our marketing-driven media industry. The health and well-being of America’s children depend on our ability as a nation to safeguard them from what has become an onslaught of harmful media and marketing. I support the inclusion of the following language for the Democratic Platform: “No strategy to ensure the well-being of America’s children and to strengthen America’s families can be complete without a plan to protect our children from the excesses of our marketing-driven media culture. Parents today are rightly concerned that, driven by an almost single-minded focus on financial profit, the nation’s media and marketing institutions are teaching young people lessons and values that undermine good parenting and harm children. For all the benefits that the media have brought us, these industries have also contributed to a profound coarsening of our culture with a steady stream of messages that sexualize children, promote unhealthy eating, and glorify violence and materialism. The escalation in marketing targeted directly at children, including babies, has been scientifically linked to some of the most serious public health problems facing our nation: childhood obesity, youth violence, eating disorders, precocious sexuality, the decline in children’s creative play, and family stress. “We want to help parents raise healthy children of good character. In ways consistent with the First Amendment, we will work to foster a healthier media environment for our children. We will work to protect our children from the excesses of marketing. We will protect parents’ rights to raise their children without being overwhelmed by negative media messages and harmful marketing strategies.”

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Additional comments for the Platform Committee:

0-25 of 1109 signatures

Number	Date	Name	Location	Additional comments for the Platform Committee:
1109	March 31, 2012	Marilyn Louis	Brooklyn, NY
1108	August 18, 2009		,
1107	October 27, 2008	Susan Mason	Lynchburg, VA
1106	October 15, 2008		,
1105	October 06, 2008	Mark Shields	Brookville , OH
1104	October 02, 2008	Dian Wynne	Tampa, OH
1103	September 30, 2008	Leah Kane	Dedham, MA
1102	September 29, 2008		,
1101	September 22, 2008		,
1100	September 21, 2008	Paola Hulbert	Pawtucket, RI
1099	September 12, 2008	Vera Cardinale	Falls Church, VA
1098	September 02, 2008		,
1097	September 02, 2008		,	Austrailia has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. They do not allow ANY commercial advertising during children's programming. They specifically select shows that encourage long attention spans and will NOT allow American cartoons due to their insult-based humor, persistent violence and the disorienting speed at which the shows are paced.
1096	September 02, 2008	Kathleen Gadd	Sackville, NB
1095	September 02, 2008	Melissa Lacouture	West Warwick, RI
1094	September 02, 2008		,
1093	September 01, 2008	Layli Magers	Fort Wayne, IN
1092	September 01, 2008		,
1091	August 31, 2008		,
1090	August 29, 2008	Debra Chang	Bellingham, WA
1089	February 15, 2011	Kathryn Kott	Dearborn Heights, MI
1088	August 29, 2008	Sunni Zuniga	Austin, TX
1087	August 28, 2008	Jennifer Reck	Cape Elizabeth, ME
1086	August 28, 2008	Sara Glaszcz	Hartford, WI
1085	August 27, 2008	Nancy Quinn	Salem, MO	We need to protect our children and all children from the over-sexualized messages that are sent in the media, in toys, books, and any other form!

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