Fairplay (organization)

Last updated

Fairplay, previously known as Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), is a United States "national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups, parents, and individuals who care about children [and is] the only national organization devoted to limiting the impact of commercial culture on children." [1] The group was founded by Susan Linn. It sponsors the annual Fred Rogers Integrity Award [2] and the TOADY Award. [3]

Contents

CCFC concerns include catalogs for children that might be inappropriate [4] and child privacy rights. [5]

In 2021, it was rebranded as Fairplay.

FTC Baby Einstein complaint

In May 2006, the CCFC filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the Baby Einstein Company and the Brainy Baby Company, a producer of similar videos; [6] the following month the CCFC amended the complaint to include another producer, BabyFirstTV. [6] The CCFC alleged false advertising by these companies, citing the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation that children under two should be discouraged from watching television programming at all, [7] and a study showing that only six percent of parents are aware of that recommendation, [8] [9] while forty-nine percent of parents think educational videos like these are very important in the intellectual development of children.

In December 2007, the FTC closed the complaint, determining not to recommend any enforcement action against the company. In so doing, the FTC noted that certain of the claims that were the subject of the CCFC’s complaint did not raise issues under the FTC’s substantiation rules. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SIDS</span> Sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usually occurs during sleep. Typically death occurs between the hours of midnight and 9:00 a.m. There is usually no noise or evidence of struggle. SIDS remains the leading cause of infant mortality in Western countries, contributing to half of all post-neonatal deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-sleeping</span>

Co-sleeping or bed sharing is a practice in which babies and young children sleep close to one or both parents, as opposed to in a separate room. Co-sleeping individuals sleep in sensory proximity to one another, where the individual senses the presence of others. This sensory proximity can either be triggered by touch, smell, taste, or noise. Therefore, the individuals can be a few centimeters away or on the other side of the room and still have an effect on the other. It is standard practice in many parts of the world, and is practiced by a significant minority in countries where cribs are also used.

Screen-Free Week is an annual event where children, families, schools and communities are encouraged to turn off screens and "turn on life". Instead of relying on television programming for entertainment, participants read, daydream, explore, enjoy nature, and spend time with family and friends. Over 300 million people have taken part in the turnoff, with millions participating each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooked on Phonics</span>

Hooked on Phonics is a commercial brand of educational materials, originally designed for reading education through phonetics. First marketed in 1987, it used systematic phonics and scaffolded stories to teach letter–sound correlations (phonics) as part of children's literacy. The program has since expanded to encompass a wide variety of media, including books, computer games, music, videos, and flash cards in addition to books in its materials, as well as to include other subject areas. The target audience for this brand is primarily individuals and home school parents. The product was advertised extensively on television and radio throughout the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffi</span> Canadian singer-songwriter and childrens advocate

Raffi Cavoukian,, known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a "global troubadour" to become a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and founder of the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring, a vision for global restoration.

Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for purposes of well-intent, while at the same time reducing its potential for harm. It advocates for transparency, accountability, and limiting the collection of personal information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baby Einstein</span> Line of multimedia products and toys for children aged 1 month to 4 years

Baby Einstein is an American franchise and line of multimedia products, including home video programs, CDs, books, flash cards, toys, and baby gear that specialize in interactive activities for infants and toddlers under three years old, created by Julie Aigner-Clark. The franchise is produced by The Baby Einstein Company.

Diane Elizabeth Levin is an American author, educator, and advocate known for her work in media literacy and media effects on children.

A privacy policy is a statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data. Personal information can be anything that can be used to identify an individual, not limited to the person's name, address, date of birth, marital status, contact information, ID issue, and expiry date, financial records, credit information, medical history, where one travels, and intentions to acquire goods and services. In the case of a business, it is often a statement that declares a party's policy on how it collects, stores, and releases personal information it collects. It informs the client what specific information is collected, and whether it is kept confidential, shared with partners, or sold to other firms or enterprises. Privacy policies typically represent a broader, more generalized treatment, as opposed to data use statements, which tend to be more detailed and specific.

TrustArc Inc. is a privacy compliance technology company based in Walnut Creek, California. The company provides software and services to help corporations update their privacy management processes so they comply with government laws and best practices. Their privacy seal or certification of compliance can be used as a marketing tool.  

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast food advertising</span> Promotion for fast food

Fast food advertising promotes fast food products and utilizes numerous aspects to reach out to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Leibowitz</span> American lawyer

Jonathan David Leibowitz is an American attorney who served under President Barack Obama as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2009 to 2013. Leibowitz was appointed to the commission in 2004, and resigned in 2013. During Leibowitz's tenure, the FTC brought privacy cases against Google, Facebook and others for violating consumer privacy, as well as enforcement against "pay-for-delay" deals in which pharmaceutical companies paid competitors to stay out of the market. Prior to joining the FTC, Leibowitz was Vice President for Congressional Affairs from 2000 to 2004 of the MPAA.

BabyFirst is an American pay television channel producing and distributing content for babies from 0–3 years and their parents through television, the internet, and mobile applications. The channel is owned by First Media US. The content is intended to develop an infant's skills, such as color recognition, counting and vocabulary.

Sentry Parental Controls was a group of content-control software packages, designed to log, notify, and block Internet content that its users saw as unsuitable for children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FTC regulation of behavioral advertising</span> US Regulations on Advertising Targeted by Online Activity

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been involved in oversight of the behavioral targeting techniques used by online advertisers since the mid-1990s. These techniques, initially called "online profiling", are now referred to as "behavioral targeting"; they are used to target online behavioral advertising (OBA) to consumers based on preferences inferred from their online behavior. During the period from the mid-1990s to the present, the FTC held a series of workshops, published a number of reports, and gave numerous recommendations regarding both industry self-regulation and Federal regulation of OBA. In late 2010, the FTC proposed a legislative framework for U.S. consumer data privacy including a proposal for a "Do Not Track" mechanism. In 2011, a number of bills were introduced into the United States Congress that would regulate OBA.

In re Gateway Learning Corp, 138 F.T.C. 443 File No. 042-3047, was an investigatory action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the Gateway Learning Corporation, distributor of Hooked on Phonics. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that Gateway had committed both unfair and deceptive trade practices by violating the terms of its own privacy policy and making retroactive changes to its privacy policy without notifying its customers. Gateway reached a settlement with the FTC, entering into a consent decree in July 2004, before formal charges were filed.

Connected toys are internet-enabled devices with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other capabilities built in. These toys, which may or may not be smart toys, provide a more personalized play experience for children through embedded software that can offer app integration, speech and/or image recognition, RFID functionality, and web searching functions. A connected toy usually collects information about the users either voluntarily or involuntarily, which raises concerns on the topic of privacy. The data collected by the connected toys are usually stored in a database, where companies that produce connected toys can use the data for their own purposes, provided they do so in line with the protections outlined in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube Kids</span> Family-friendly app on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store

YouTube Kids is an American video app and website for children developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app provides a version of the service oriented solely towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate for viewing by children under the age of 13, in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits the regular YouTube app from profiling children under the age of 13 for advertising purposes.

Since its founding in 2005, the American video-sharing website YouTube has been faced with a growing number of privacy issues, including allegations that it allows users to upload unauthorized copyrighted material and allows personal information from young children to be collected without their parents' consent.

References

  1. "About the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood". Commercialfreechildhood.org. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  2. "Events | Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood". Commercialfreechildhood.org. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  3. "Take Action | Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood". Commercialfreechildhood.org. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  4. Goodison, Donna (July 13, 2010). "Retailer's racy catalog to return". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01.
  5. "Debate Looms Over Teens' Privacy Rights on the Web". Fox News. 2010-07-07. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  6. 1 2 Baby Einstein & Brainy Baby FTC Complaint Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine , Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood website, retrieved Dec. 15, 2008
  7. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Public Education (February 2001). "Children, Adolescents, and Television (policy statement)". Pediatrics . 107 (2): 423–426. doi: 10.1542/peds.107.2.423 . PMID   11158483. Archived from the original on 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  8. Josh Golin (January 2007). "Putting the Book Back in Book Fair". Mothering. Archived from the original on 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  9. Michelle M. Garrison; Dimitri A. Christakis. "New Report on Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers". Kaiser Family Foundation . Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  10. Federal Trade Commission Closing Letter to counsel for the Baby Einstein Company, December 5, 2007, retrieved July 9, 2008