Commercial Alert is a project of

Public Citizen Public Citizen is an American non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group, and think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1971 by the American activist and lawyer Ralph Nader. Lobbying e ...

, a

consumer advocacy Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution. Consumer Organizations may operate via protests, litigation, camp ...

non-profit organization. Commercial Alert opposes

advertising to children Advertising to children refers to the act of advertising products or services to children as defined by national laws and advertising standards. Advertising involves using communication channels to promote products or services to a specific audie ...

and the commercialization of culture, education, and government. It works on issues such as

commercialism Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit. Commercialism can also refer, positi ...

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...

native advertising Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, vide ...

, advertising in schools,

ad-creep Ad creep is the "creep" of advertising into previously ad-free spaces. The earliest verified appearance of the term "ad creep" is in a 1996 article "Creeping Commercials: Ads Worming Way Into TV Scripts" by Steve Johnson for the ''Chicago Tribun ...

, and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

. It works to reduce the negative impacts of advertising on public health, such as

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

. It was co-founded in 1999 by prominent consumer advocate

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

. The mission of Commercial Alert is "to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy". In 2001, it complained to the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

that

Internet search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on the Web in response to a user's query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the search results are typically ...

s were failing to unambiguously label paid results as advertising. In 2005, the Federal Trade Commission rejected a request by Commercial Alert to identify

in television programs as advertising. In 2007, Commercial Alert criticized Jack Daniels sponsorship of the television series ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

''.

References

External links

Commercial Alert
Anti-corporate activism Charities based in Washington, D.C. Public Citizen {{nonprofit-org-stub