Links

Recommended websites/related links (education, advocacy and other):

ACME: Action Coalition for Media Education http://www.acmecoalition.org/ ACME teaches media literacy and advocates independent media and media reform.

Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhoodhttp://www.commericalexploitation.org The CCFC is a coalition of individuals who use action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration among organizations and individuals to counter the harmful effects of living in a consumer society. Their focus is on children and the commercialization of childhood.

The Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/The Center for a New American Dream helps Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice. It is concerned that excessive materialism is having serious consequences and seeks to promote conscious consumption and "more of what matters" instead of just more.

Commercial Alert http://www.commercialalert.org/A non-profit organization founded in 1998 by Ralph Nader and Gary Ruskin seeking to "protect children and communities from commercialism". Commercial Alert has led successful campaigns to limit commercialism in American schools.

Free Press http://www.freepress.net/Free Press is a small non-profit organization working to involve the public in media policymaking and to craft policies for a more democratic and diverse media system.

How Product Placement Works http://money.howstuffworks.com/product-placement.htm A tutorial explaining what product placement is and how it works. Several examples demonstrate how product placement has infiltrated not only films, but also television, books, video games and songs.

Judge Baker Children"s Center http://www.jbcc.harvard.eduJudge Baker Children's Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children whose emotional and behavioral problems threaten to limit their potential. This site contains information on youth marketing and the targeting of children by advertisers and useful links.

The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/index.htmlThe Legacy Tobacco Documents Library is a digital library of internal tobacco industry documents from the files of top tobacco companies and two additional collections from the Tobacco Control Archives at the University of California, San Francisco.

Lovemarks www.lovemarks.com : The future beyond brands Lovemarks are brands that "inspire loyalty beyond reason" and that explains their success, says Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi&Saatchi.

Media Awareness Network http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/corporate/about_us/index.cfmMNet is a Canadian non-profit organization that has been pioneering the development of media literacy programs since 1996. Its focus is educating young people about the media in order to build critical thinking. MNet works together with government and private partners to develop research programs and workshops and it provides educational materials to educators and practical tools to parents.

Media Education Foundation
www.mediaed.org The MEF is a non-profit organization that produces and distributes educational video documentaries. Founded by University of Massachusetts Communication professor Sut Jhally, their aim is to counter the commercial interests of media conglomerates by encouraging critical thinking among the general population. Produced the product placement video Behind the Screens.

Media Literacy.com http://www.medialiteracy.com Promotes media literacy in American schools and provides teaching materials.

NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4647581 A look at some of the tactics studios use to seduce moviegoers to their films.

No Media Kings http://nomediakings.org/invoice.htm Novelist Jim Munroe sent invoices to ten companies whose products appeared in his novel, Everyone In Silico and then he waited for their responses.

The Product Placement Bible http://www.chaparraltree.com/oneshots/product.shtml A tongue-in-cheek website offering ad space to advertisers in a brand new translation of the Bible.