September 17, 2008

Contact: Josh Golin (617.278.4172; jgolin@jbcc.harvard.edu)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CCFC Expels the Bratz from School

Following an eighteen-month campaign by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), Scholastic, Inc. will no longer be promoting the controversial and highly sexualized Bratz brand in schools. In February, 2007, CCFC launched a letter-writing campaign urging Scholastic to stop promoting Bratz items at their book clubs and book fairs. CCFC members flooded Scholastic with more than 5,000 emails urging them to stop selling books such as Lil' Bratz Dancin Divas; Lil' Bratz Catwalk Cuties; and Lil' Bratz Beauty Sleepover Bash.

“We applaud Scholastic’s decision to pull the plug on the Bratz,” said CCFC’s Director Dr. Susan Linn. “The commercially-driven, sexualized stereotypes typified by the Bratz brand have no place in schools.”

Scholastic’s initial response to the campaign was to claim that the Bratz books were important to reach "reluctant readers." This claim seemed disingenuous, especially when the 2007-2008 Scholastic Bratz items included the Bratz: Rock Angels computer game and the Bratz Fashion Designer stencil set so elementary school students could design "the perfect purse." But after continued pressure from CCFC, Scholastic relented.

Added Dr. Linn, “Scholastic’s decision demonstrates the growing power of the movement to reclaim children and schools from corporate marketers.”

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (www.commercialfreechildhood.org) is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration among organizations and individuals who care about children.

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