TV coming to a supermarket near you...

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.