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President Clinton
Unveils New TV and Radio Ad Campaign to Help Parents Talk with
Their Children About Violence
Ads
Feature Call to Action by President Clinton; Top Broadcast and
Cable TV Networks to Premiere Ads During "Family Hour"
-- 8-9pm ET/PT Wednesday, August 18th
Contacts:
| Amy
Weitz, 650-854-9400, ext. 211 |
Vernaé
Graham, 510-763-2444 ext. 129 |
| Paula
Veale, 212-984-1930 |
Jennifer
Morales, 202-347-5270, ext. 112 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the aftermath of the Columbine High School shooting
in Colorado and other recent tragic events, a new TV and radio public
service ad campaign aimed at helping parents talk with their children
about violence was announced today by the Kaiser Family Foundation,
Children Now and The Advertising Council. The PSAs were unveiled today
at a White House event with President Bill Clinton and First Lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The PSAs
encourage parents to talk with their kids about violence and include
a toll-free telephone number and Web site to contact for a free
booklet. The ads, which include a call to action by President Clinton,
are the latest component of the "Talking With Kids About Tough
Issues" campaign, a national effort to encourage earlier and
more frequent parent-child communication.
The PSAs
grew out of discussions at the White House Strategy Session on Children,
Violence and Responsibility, held three weeks after the Columbine
incident. More than two dozen national broadcast and cable TV
networks plan to run the ads for the first time on the same day,
Wednesday, August 18th, during the family hour of 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Participating media organizations include the broadcast networks:
ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Univision, UPN and WB. Participating cable networks
include: A&E, Animal Planet, BET, CNN, CNN Airport, Comedy Central,
Country Music Television, Discovery Channel, Discovery Digital Networks,
FOX Family Channel, Headline News, the History Channel, the Learning
Channel, Lifetime, MTV, the Nashville Network, Nickelodeon/NICK
at NITE, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, TV Land, and VH-1. FasTV.com,
a Web site with video streaming capability, will provide the spot
online. According to the Ad Council, such a coordinated effort by
media organizations is unprecedented. In addition, the National
Association of Broadcasters and National Cable Television Association
will distribute the PSAs to all broadcast and cable TV networks
through satellite feeds.
"I
am truly awed by the media's unprecedented support of the Talking
With Kids campaign," said Ad Council president and CEO Peggy
Conlon. "Once again, the media industry has proven that when
there is a national crisis facing kids and families they will put
aside the bottom line to get an important message out to all Americans."
The ads,
produced for "Talking With Kids" by the J. Walter Thompson,
the campaign's volunteer ad agency, feature children between ages
8 and 13 speaking un-scripted about their concerns and fears regarding
violence.
"Parents
tell us that they are tired of hearing from experts about how they
are failing and need to do more," said Drew Altman, president
of the Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California. "We
launched the Talking With Kids campaign to support parents, so that
they can support their kids."
"When
the Colorado tragedy forced parents to jump into difficult conversations
with their children about violence, many realized it was hard to
do," said Lois Salisbury, president of Children Now, based
in Oakland, California. "The Talking With Kids campaign offers
practical guidance in starting and deepening these important conversations.
But more importantly, the campaign reminds parents that the most
effective family communication about violence and other tough issues
begins early and happens often."
A free
booklet for parents on how to talk about violence is promoted in
the ads and is available at www.talkingwithkids.org
or by calling 1-800-CHILD44.
The Kaiser
Family Foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, is a national
health care philanthropy and not associated with Kaiser Permanente.
Children Now, based in Oakland, California, is a non-partisan voice
for America's children. The Advertising Council is a private, nonprofit
organization, which has been the leading producer of public service
communications programs in the United States since 1942.
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