----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood <ccfc@commercialfreechildhood.org>
To: seaandmts2@yahoo.com
Sent: Tue, August 10, 2010 7:06:29 AM
Subject: Is that mac & cheese talking to your child? Stop grocery shelf TV ads

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Reclaiming Childhood from Corporate Marketers

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"Having TV screens all over the grocery stores undermines my parenting!  You simply cannot avoid the presence of television!  Not only are they getting to play their ads for our kids, but they are sending the message that it is normal to stare at a screen all day...in the car, at the store, in school...It's truly sickening."
- CCFC member Samantha Penrose, mother of three, Urbana, IL

"TV as it was meant to be! (You know, for advertising!)"
- 3GTv's trademarked slogan


This fall, Food Lion supermarkets will unleash 3GTv, mini-televisions attached to grocery store shelves running continuous commercials -- right next to the product being advertised.  If a test run in Maryland and Virginia is successful, other supermarkets are sure to follow Food Lion's lead.  That's why, no matter where you live or shop, Food Lion needs to hear from you.

Do you agree that families have a right to grocery shop without being forced to run a gauntlet of screens blasting commercials in every aisle?  Take a moment to tell Food Lion to pull the plug on its grocery store TVs.

Screen-based advertising has erupted into the public sphere where it is inescapable.  Even the most vigilant parents can't protect children from it.   It's time to challenge the notion that marketers have the right to fill every nook and cranny of our lives with televisions and their blaring commercials.

It's bad enough that popular children's characters like Dora the Explorer and Shrek beckon from packaging on grocery shelves, encouraging children to nag for snacks and cereals of dubious nutritional quality.  It's even worse that many supermarkets have TVs at the checkout counter, exploiting a captive audience waiting in line to pay for groceries.  But now, at the exact moment families are making purchasing decisions, in-your-face TV ads will undercut parental authority by compelling children to lobby for whatever is being advertised.

So let's stop 3GTv before it even starts and keep it from spreading to every supermarket aisle across the country.  The continuing intrusion of marketing into public space disrupts our ability to pay attention to each other and corrodes our sense of community. Take action now to stop TV ads from coming to a grocery store near you.


If you're on Facebook, please share this.  On Twitter?  Please tweet:
RT @CommercialFree I just told @FoodLion to pull the plug on grocery shelf TVs. http://bit.ly/balqWq



P.S. Have family or friends who work in food stores? Consider how 3GTv's noise will disrupt their work environment.  Help put a stop to it now!



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The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
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