Press Release

(MINNEAPOLIS) - The National Institute on Media and the Family today announced a new Web site for parents to help them become aware of "buzzploitation." The site, http://buzzploitation.blogspot.com/, will feature blog entries from Dr. David Walsh, president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family.

The National Institute on Media and the Family is concerned about the exploitation of minors in word of mouth campaigns and has called on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association to inform parents their children are being recruited and used in stealth marketing campaigns. The new Web site will be used to monitor word of mouth marketing industry practices. It will also offer parents useful information to assist them in being more involved in what their children are seeing and doing online.

"The National Institute on Media and the Family is particularly concerned about children who are recruited and used in stealth marketing campaigns without their parent's knowledge," said Dr. Walsh. "We hope this new Web site will serve as another tool for parents to protect their children while using the Internet and to 'watch what their kids watch."

The National Institute on Media and the Family is an independent non-partisan, non-sectarian, nonprofit organization. Its MediaWise movement is being adopted in communities throughout the country to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of media on children. For more information, please visit www.mediafamily.org on the Web or call 1-888-672-5437.