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Summer/Fall 1999

EXPOSING "JOE CAMEL TOYS" AT SENATE HEARING
By Daphne White, Executive Director

In the six months since the horrendous shootings at Columbine High School, The Lion & Lamb Project has been in the forefront of efforts to demonstrate to policymakers, industry leaders, parents and others that violence is not childs play. Here are some highlights:

  • On May 4, Lion & Lamb testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, asking both the Congress and industry to take more responsibility in stopping the merchandising of violence to children. "The flood of violence engulfing childrens lives is impossible for parents to stop on their own," executive director Daphne White told the Senators. "Industry has to take responsibility too. ... By introducing ever-younger children to ever-more violent products, the entertainment industry is behaving with the same reckless disregard for the facts that the tobacco industry showed for so many years. If each sector of society points the finger at the other, we will get nowhere."
  • Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Sen. John McCain referred to Lion & Lambs testimony in a New York Times editorial. "The various entertainment industries should declare a cease-fire in the marketing of ultra-violent products to children," they wrote. "Evidence presented last week at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing indicates that several top companies are aiming adult-rated movies and video games with high dosages of murder and mayhem at young teenagers. This is unethical and unacceptable."
  • As a result of these hearings, President Clinton called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department to investigate the marketing and cross-marketing of violence to children. Lion & Lamb presented extensive documentation to the FTC, demonstrating how action figures, hand-held video games and even Halloween costumes are being used to market adult-rated materials to young children. "We call these marketing devices Joe Camel toys, because they are used to introduce very young children to very adult materials in a very calculated way," White told the FTC.

After four years of working to stop the merchandising of violence to children, Lion & Lamb is gratified to know that attorneys at two national law enforcement agencies are now investigating this issue with full subpoena powers. The final report is due out in about a year. Well report on the findings as soon as they are released.

The Lion & Lamb Project