Media Smart: International expansion of the Media Smart group

In Netherlands they have sister companies with the likes of Media Rakkers which was launched in 2005 and immediately after that Recklame was launched in 2006. The Recklame initiative runs in 6,000 schools out of 8,500 primary schools and the former is adopted by over 4,500 schools respectively.

These programmes are supported by 36 monopolist companies all over the world i.e. global companies with the likes of Microsoft, Nintendo, Hasbro to name just a few.

In Hungary 305 of the country’ schools have participated in the program and Media tutor website has been set up to encourage the success of Media Smart. Advertisers have donated cash and broadcasters have used pro bono airtime worth over £2million. There is currently an argument about the consultations which clearly is not deigned to benefit the public interest. The official members of the Organization themselves raise suspicion with their involvement in other activities. For instance Marina Palomba who serves as the Director of Media Smart published a book titled “Ad Law- Breaking the Mould without Breaking the Rules". She also specializes in Brand protection, advertising and marketing law and regulation, including intellectual property rights. She is also allegedly “establishing the first global compliance and advisory service with the aim to assist advertisers, agencies and technology companies”. Paul Jackson is the Director of European Marketing Director for the confectionary business and he serves as the Vise President of theWorld Federation of Advertising and the Responsible Advertising and Children program, they claim to be committed to responsible marketing communication on a local, regional and global scale. The programme is responsible for launching Media Smart in European Union. Coincidently he runs a Silver fin which is a brand doctoring consultancy company.

They are clearly using Media Smart programs as a platform for advertising products, to children in Europe and potentially in the world, needless to day. Issues and concerns have been raised by child psychologists about the vulnerability of children to advertising companies. The then Minister of Media and heritage Lord McIntosh noted that “advertising in all forms played an important role in informing people’s choices of products and services”. This view is channeled by Media Smart Groups to exploit young people by exposing them to all forms of advertising though Digital Ad wise and Media Smart programs.

Across Europe over 73,000 primary schools are using the Media Smart material and 19, 000 have requested the use of the material.

The creation of consumerism around the world has influenced the children to think about a ‘must have’ toy and ‘I got to have it’ has been created by pressures from the media and their peers. It is disappointingly a marketing occurrence. It is not surprising that these organisations are mostly funded by private sector companies. In USA, the Media Smart Youth programme called We can, a national movement designed to teach 8 to 13 year olds to stay healthy has been implemented by many states. The programme was made available to the public in 2006http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/about-wecan/index.htm Ways to enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Health. Accessed 17.11 2020. Since it’s its launch it has been adopted by all 50 states and community sites, and in several parts around the world including the Arab World http://www.aocmedialiteracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=31 Helping Palestinian Children Become “Media Smart”! Alliance of Civilisation website . In Canada 10 provinces have endorsed programmes aimed at advertising to young children http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_education/media_education_overview.cfm Media Awareness Network.

The shift to neo-liberalism has increased the deregulation of companies to some extend, the reason being that regulation is now conducted to suit neo liberal policies. At the same policies are enacted in the public’s name but increasingly without the public’s consent to their hidden messages attached to advertisements. In reality private interests supersedes children’s needs. This is done with the Government‘s protection of corporate companies rather than popular inference. Neo-liberal global capitalists market and the global commercial markets are closely linked. Thus they are a collective movement.

The Media Smart website lists the following:

Germany [ http://www.mediasmart.de ]
Netherlands[ http://www.reklamerakkers.nl ]
Belgium [ http://www.mediasmart.be ]
Sweden [ http://www.mediasmart.se ]
Finland [ http://www.mediasmart.fi ]
Portugal [ http://www.mediasmart.com ]
Hungary [ http://www.mediatudor.hu ]

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