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Use of Georgetown U. facilities to exploit and manipulate young children
Commercial Alert November 8, 1999
-- Groups urge Georgetown University President Leo O'Donovan to bar the
use of Georgetown's facilities by a child marketing conference devoted
to exploiting and manipulating young children.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: For More Information Contact:
Monday, November 8, 1999 Gary Ruskin (202) 296-2787
Groups Urge Georgetown University to Bar the Use of its Facilities by a
Conference Devoted to Exploiting and Manipulating Young Children
Five organizations sent a letter today to Father Leo O'Donovan,
President of Georgetown University, asking him to tell a non-academic
child marketing conference, "Selling to Kids University," scheduled to
take place at the Georgetown University Conference Center on November
15, 1999, to "convoke their predations elsewhere." The letter follows.
Dear Father O'Donovan:
In your faculty convocation address in September, you spoke of
Georgetown University's high mission in the world. You quoted
Archbishop John Carroll, Georgetown University's founder, whose vision
was to establish an academy that would "promote what he called the
‘cultivation of virtue.'" That vision includes many things. One thing
it does not include is abetting those who would exploit children for
monetary gain. Yet, that is precisely what the University is going to
do.
On November 15, the Georgetown University Conference Center is hosting
a non-academic conference billed as "Selling to Kids University," which
is a project of Selling to Kids newsletter.
This conference does not seek to promote the cultivation of virtue.
Instead it seeks to aid adults who wish to turn children into
materialistic and product-obsessed little nags, who badger their parents
until they get what they want. The conference materials state as much.
Conference sessions will focus on such topics as "viewing brands through
kids' eyes, getting into the hearts and minds of kids, building brand
loyalty, utilizing alternative media such as in-school marketing and the
Internet, and enhancing brand appeal." All sessions, we read, "will
touch on the challenges of capitalizing on the key influencers of
today's kids, including the Internet, school, television, role models,
and heroes, among others."
These people want to get into the "hearts and minds" of children as
young as two years of age, not to help them, not to nurture virtue, but
simply to make money from them. Worse, they want to enlist schools,
role models and heroes in this purpose.
Is this why children have heroes, so that corporations may sell
things? Is this why we have schools, so that corporations can take
advantage of the compulsory education laws to force children to watch
ads? Is this why children have eyes, so that corporations may deploy
images that stir up their desires, and make them want to watch violent
entertainment, buy alcohol, tobacco, junk food, fast food, and, so
doing, develop ill health, obesity, materialism, violent natures,
alcoholism and other addictions and destructive values?
We trust that Georgetown University does not want to assist such
endeavors. It is difficult to see any compatibility whatsoever between
the goals of the University, as stated by you, and the goals of this
conference, as stated by the conference promoters. One would think
that, to the contrary, this conference stands for much that the
University exists to oppose.
In your faculty convocation address, you proudly referred to the
"Catholic and Jesuit mission of serving society." You spoke of "five
fundamental commitments" that Georgetown ought to make, including to
"continue to provide distinctive intellectual and moral leadership in
the Catholic and Jesuit tradition, ‘for the greater glory of God and for
the welfare of humankind.'"
We urge you to reconsider Georgetown University's role as host for this
conference. Do the aims of these people -- to get into the "hearts and
minds of kids" for commercial ends -- really deserve the University's
blessings and imprimatur? If you take your values seriously, you cannot
possibly allow this conference to take place at Georgetown, and with its
blessings. It would be a true act of moral leadership, in service of
innocent children, to tell the child marketing conference to convoke
their predations elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Gary Ruskin, Director, Commercial Alert
Michael Jacobson, Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public
Interest
Betsy Taylor, Executive Director, Center for a New American Dream
Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.
Frank Vespe, Executive Director, TV-Free America
<-----------letter ends here ------------>
Following is an announcement for the child marketing conference.
Subject: KidPulse: Why Uniforms Fit Kids' Brains
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 01:32:55 -0400
From: "Judith A. Jewer" <judithj@museon.com>
Organization: Muse on Design
To: kidpulse@profitstream.net
To unsubscribe reply with 'unsubscribe' in the subject
X-ListMember: gary@essential.org [kidpulse@profitstream.net]
Hey KidPulse Friends and Marketing Professionals - Welcome to KidPulse!
I have been able to organize a discount to the "Selling 2 Kids
University" for KidPulse subscribers and KidsMarketing.com visitors.
Mention the KidsMarketing.com web site and receive a 10% discount!
KIDS MARKETERS TO ENROLL IN ONE-DAY INTENSIVE STRATEGIC FORUM
For more information contact: Karen Singer, 301-340-7788, ext. 2322 or
mailto:ksinger@phillips.com
This fall, marketers selling to kids ages 2-12 will be back in the
classroom - at least for a day, at the first ever Selling to Kids
University (S2KU). Presented by Selling to Kids newsletter, S2KU
includes a full day of intensive, interactive labs focused on today's
critical challenges in selling to kids ages 2-12.
It will be held Monday, November 15, 1999 at the Georgetown University
Conference Center in Washington, DC, and is expected to attract
marketers, strategic planners, brand managers, research directors and
others.
S2KU features a faculty of top names in the kids marketing arena,
including: Daniel Acuff, Ph.D., author of What Kids Buy and Why and
founder of Youth Market Systems; the Geppetto Group's Julie Halpin, CEO
and Chris McKee, chief creative officer; Paul Kurnit, president, Griffin
Bacal; Barbara Parsky, EVP/general manager, Porter Novelli, Los Angeles;
Peter Silsbee, senior project director, Roper Starch Worldwide and
Debbie Solomon, senior partner, J. Walter Thompson. They have
spearheaded some of the most highly grossing kids marketing campaigns
for Coca-Cola, Disneyland, Nabisco, Kraft, Nestle, Kids Foot Locker, Fox
Kids, McDonald's, and Oral-B, among others.
"Selling to Kids University is a concept long overdue. This conference
will allow us to deal with real business issues in a small workshop type
environment ... I'm looking forward to the opportunity to put all our
research and experience to work on real business issues, and generate
real, practical solutions," says Julie Halpin, CEO, GeppettoGroup.
Attendees are invited to bring their problems and challenges to
"class". Lab sessions will focus on such topics as viewing brands
through kids' eyes, getting into the hearts and minds of kids, building
brand loyalty, utilizing alternative media such as in-school marketing
and the Internet, and enhancing brand appeal. All sessions will touch
on the challenges of capitalizing on the key influencers of today's
kids, including the Internet, school, television, role models, and
heroes, among others.
"Our readers have been asking us to provide them with a forum like
this," says Diane Schwartz, Associate Publisher for both Selling to Kids
and Selling to Kids University. "Selling to Kids University was a
natural fit."
Mention that you were referred by the KidsMarketing Web Site and receive
a 10% discount!
Best Regards, Judith
[other materials edited out....]
************************************************************
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For more information, contact KidsMarketing
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Call (905) 839-0020 or visit web site our at
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************************************************************
-----------------------
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please call, fax or email Georgetown University President O'Donovan --
especially if you are a Georgetown alumni, student or faculty member.
Please ask Father O'Donovan politely to make sure that the child
marketing conference does not take place at Georgetown University.
Father O'Donovan's phone is (202) 687-4134, and fax is (202) 687-6660.
You can send email to Father O'Donovan via his Executive Assistant,
Susan Buckingham, at <buckings@gunet.georgetown.edu>.
Commercial Alert was founded last year to oppose the excesses of
advertising, marketing and commercialism. Commercial Alert's web
address is <http://www.essential.org/alert>.
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PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
---------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Ruskin | Commercial Alert
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406
http://www.essential.org/alert/ | mailto:gary@essential.org
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