Title:  Media Literacy
Feed: CWKN #444, July 1, 2009
Time: 1:39

SUGGESTED LEAD: THE AVERAGE AMERICAN KID IS IN FRONT OF A SCREEN FOR SIX HOURS A DAY… AND, ACCORDING TO THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION , ALL THAT TIME IN FRONT OF VIDEO GAMES, COMPUTERS, TELEVISION SCREENS CAN INCREASE THEIR CHANCES OF BEING VIOLENT, HAVING SEX, DOING DRUGS AND HAVING AN EATING DISORDER.  HOW PARENTS CAN COUNTERACT ALL THESE MESSAGES ON TODAY’S CONNECT WITH KIDS.
<<PKG>>

NATS:  (Mascara Commercial)  “Why settle for great lashes, when you can be fabulash?”

NARR:  ACCORDING TO THE ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS … KIDS SEE 40-THOUSAND COMMERCIALS EVERY YEAR. (:05)
 
SUPER:  Leigh, 16 years old (:12)
“It’s always skinny women.   Most of the time they have the perfect hair, the perfect make-up, the perfect clothes.”

NARR:  THE GOAL OF THIS CLASS IS TO HELP GIRLS LEARN HOW ADVERTISING INFLUENCES THEM. (:04)

SUPER:  Elizabeth English, High School Academic Dean (:23)
“I think many times ads simply create a discomfort and an anxiety around how a girl looks or simply feels about herself.  So that in turn, she’s constantly searching for products or ways that will alleviate that discomfort.”

NARR:  AN HOUR A DAY EVERY DAY FOR THREE WEEKS, THEY STUDY HOW ADS AFFECT HOW THEY SEE THEMSELVES. (:06)

SUPER: Chaquana, 17 years old (:47)
“If you’re big and you never see anybody who is big being called beautiful, or who is black being called beautiful, you don’t want to be who you are anymore, you want to be what you see being called beautiful.”

SUPER:  Brooke, 17 years old (:56)
“Well it’s telling women that if you are not pretty enough, you are not going to get married and nobody is going to love you.”

SOT: Elizabeth English, Academic Dean
“We want them to be able to say ‘No, I won’t buy this product.  I don’t need this product to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be beautiful.’”

NARR:  SHE SAYS AT HOME, PARENTS CAN ASK GIRLS TO ANALYZE COMMERCIALS THEY SEE IN PRINT AND ON TV …

AND THEN ASK THEM HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT THEIR OWN BODIES. (:10)

SOT: Elizabeth English, Academic Dean
“Give them an opportunity to talk about it.  And then above all don’t criticize your daughter for how she looks.  The messages she gets every day are harsh enough and damaging enough.”

NARR:  WHAT ELSE CAN PARENTS DO? (:01)

SUPER:  Amani, 14 years old (1:34)
“Maybe its just them saying, ‘Hey, you look beautiful! And you be yourself.”

SUGGESTED TAG:  FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RAISING MEDIA LITERATE KIDS, LOG ONTO <LOCAL URL> AND CLICK THE CONNECT WITH KIDS ICON.