Children’s Advocacy Group: Disney Pushed Harvard Center to Drop Us

By Jill Replogle on March 11, 2010

Disney executives may have pressured a Harvard-affiliated center to kick out a children’s advocacy group, after the group won a campaign against Disney last fall. After years at battle, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood had succeeded in pressuring Disney to offer refunds to buyers of Baby Einstein DVDs marketed for toddlers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against any television for children under 2.

Campaign officials say Disney put pressure on the Judge Baker Children’s Center to cut ties with the group because of its work. From the campaign’s March 10 press release:

It is chilling that any corporation, particularly one marketing itself as family friendly, would lean on a children’s mental health center,” said CCFC’s Director, Dr. Susan Linn. “It is more important than ever that those who care about children’s wellbeing speak out against the corporate takeover of childhood.”

Here’s The New York Times story about the Baby Einstein refunds last fall.

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Compiled by Stuart Silverstein

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Children’s Advocacy Group: Disney Pushed Harvard Center to Drop Us

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