How to help
This site is designed to help you lobby the Australian Government for a total ban on all advertising and marketing - including for food, toys, music, clothes and activities - designed exclusively to target children. We do not oppose advertisments for children's products aimed at adults. Any action you take can make a difference.
Here's what you can do.
- Decide who you want to write to about this issue - your national or state representative, and/or the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
- Use the links below to find the name and address (postal, email or fax) of the person to whom you have decided to write.
- Download the sample letter (Word document format - please email us if you need another format).
- Enter the details of the person to whom you are writing.
- Send it off - by post, email or by fax.
- As a last step, record what you have done by completing this quick survey.
- And don't forget to pass this message on to your friends and family.
Find your local member through these links
- Prime Minister of Australia
- Federal Government - House of Representatives
- Federal Government - Senate
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Western Australia
What is my electorate?
If you do not know your electorate, you can check it on the Australian Electoral Commission website search engine.
Australian Communications and Media Authoriy (ACMA)
- Australian Communications and Media Authority homepage
- Here's what the ACMA says about children's television standards
- Here are the actual television standards
- The ACMA is undertaking a review of the Children’s Television Standards (CTS) and released the draft CTS 2008 on 27 August 2008 and invited submissions from interested parties. The submissions period closed on 31 October 2008. Copies of submissions received are available from ACMA website. To make an enquiry relating to the CTS Review, you may:
email: ctsreview@acma.gov.au
phone: ACMA directly on (02) 9334 7700 or
post your enquiry to:
CTS Project Manager
Content Monitoring and Review Section
Australian Communications and Media Authority
PO Box Q500
Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230
- You can also complain to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) about the portrayal of sex/sexuality/nudity, portrayal of people, language, violence and health and safety in advertisements, including those broadcast on radio and TV. You can also complain to the ASB about motor vehicle and alcohol advertisements and advertising to children.
Useful Information
There have been many studies into the effects of advertising on children. We have listed some links to sites which contain research and which have similar aims to our own below. Please let us know if you know of other research/sites which you would like us to list here.
- information about media and children
- www.commercialalert.org/ (this is a US organisation aimed at preventing "the commercial sphere" from, among other things, exploiting children)
- Coalition on Food Advertising to Children
- www.nutritionaustralia.org (reading only, rather old - 1998 - but it's by Rosemary Stanton)
- www.parentsjury.org.au (this is an organisation which targets children's lifestyle - food and activity. It awards prizes for the worst food marketing. They also have sample letters and all sorts of useful stuff on their website. Worth a look.)
- www.mediachannel.org consuming kids articles
- www.preventioninstitute.org
Here are some publications you might find interesting.
- Advertising to Children:
- Concepts and Controversies by Les Carlson
- Children & Advertising:
- The allegations and the evidence by Adrian Furnham
- Children as Consumers:
- Insights and Implications by James U. McNeal
- Harvesting Minds:
- How TV Commercials Control Kids by Roy F. Fox