July 12th, 2003
Aided by Clifford and the Care Bears, Companies Go After the Toddler Market
By Constance L. Hays
The New York Times
Marketers have long had the nation’s schoolchildren in their sights. Now toddlers in preschools and day care centers are getting special attention from companies eager for new customers.
"This is all part of advertisers’ brazenness," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, an advocacy group in Portland, Ore., that regularly battles marketing in schools. "The assault on our youngest kids is vicious and growing in intensity."