Action for Children's Television
| Founded | 1968 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Peggy Charren, Lillian Ambrosino, Evelyn Kaye and Judy Chalfen |
| Dissolved | 1992 |
| Type | Advocacy group |
| Focus | "Children's" television programming |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
United States |
| Product | None |
| Method | Media attention, direct-appeal campaigns |
|
Key people
|
Peggy Charren, Judith Chalfen |
|
Volunteers
|
20,000 maximum |
| Website | None |
Action for Children's Television (ACT) was founded by Peggy Charren and Judith "Judy" Chalfen in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, in 1968 as a grassroots organization that claimed that it was dedicated to improving the quality of television programming offered to children. ACT had up to 20,000 volunteer members and an operational budget of almost a half a million dollars before disbanding in 1992.
ACT's initial focus was the Boston edition of the syndicated Romper Room, a children's show which promoted its toy products to its viewers. When ACT threatened to complain to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), WHDH-TV scaled back the host's role in product promotion.
In the late 1960s, ACT also targeted Saturday morning cartoons that involved superheroes and violence, including The Herculoids, Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Super President and Fantastic Four. The group was responsible for driving these shows off the air by the start of the 1969-70 television season, and they were replaced by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, H.R. Pufnstuf, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, and other light comedy-fantasy programs.
In 1970, ACT petitioned the FCC to ban advertising from children's programming. In subsequent years, it sought a more limited prohibition, eliminating commercials for specific categories of products. In 1971, ACT challenged the promotion of vitamins to children. "One-third of the commercials were for vitamin pills, even though the bottles said, 'Keep out of reach of children' because an overdose could put them in a coma," said Charren. Responding to ACT's campaign, vitamin-makers voluntarily withdrew their advertising. In addition to petitioning for the FCC to ban advertising, ACT requested the FCC to publish a public notice of their guidelines for children's television. The guidelines included: "1. That there be a minimum of 14 hours programming for children of different ages each week, as a public service; 2. That there be no commercials on children’s programs; 3. That hosts on children’s shows do not sell."
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