FTC Creates Website to Educate Children About Advertising for Foods and Other Products
Featuring colorful graphics purporting to hawk products ranging from sugar-sweetened cereals and acne medication to sporting goods and meals sold at fast-food restaurants, a new website created by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Bureau of Consumer Protection seeks to provide children with the tools they need to properly understand and assess commercial speech. Designed for children in grades four through six, the interactive game with accompanying classroom materials urges children to keep three questions in mind whenever and wherever they are exposed to advertising: Who is responsible for the ad? What is the ad really saying? What does the ad want me to do?
FTC announced the website’s launch in late April 2010, and bureau director David Vladeck said that its goal is “to help kids start to understand the commercial world they live in and to be alert to, and think critically, of advertising.” Vladeck reportedly confessed that he was unable to get past Level Two in the game, while his 12-year-old nephew was already on Level Four. Funded at a little more than $2 million, the initiative is expected to reach “a couple hundred thousand classrooms” nationwide. See The New York Times, April 26, 2010.
