Here's the latest from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. All I have to say is "Argh!"
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.
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