Nickelodeon Promotes Violent & Sexual Games to Young Children
Thursday January 28, 2010
Nickelodeon can’t seem to make up their mind. Are they educational and child friendly? Are they edgy and cool? My kids enjoy several Nick Jr shows and have spent time on the Nick Jr website. The games and crafts on the site are cute, focusing on such popular preschool characters as Dora and The Wonder Pets. But if you scroll to the bottom of the screen under the title “Nickeloden Kids and Family Websites” you’ll find links to AddictingGames.com, a decided child-unfriendly website. Links to the site are even more prominent on Nickelodeon sites geared towards elementary-aged kids and tweens.
AddictingGames.com is a free game website where users can actually upload their own games, rate favorites and embed games on their social media pages. The games that are highlighted on the front page change regularly based on what’s new and what’s popular. Today I was greeted with such gems as ZOMGies (“Shoot Zombies in your Pajamas!”), Kitten Cannon (“Launch the kitten into a field filled with bombs!”) and Bowman 2 (“Shoot an arrow through the heart of your opponent.”). Clearly these are not games intended for children, so why are there prominent links to the site on all of the Nickelodeon properties?
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is asking the same thing. In fact, they’ve put together a letter campaign to request that Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group stop promoting the highly violent and sexualized website to young children. Concerned child advocates can quickly send a message just by adding their name and contact info to an online form.
In the meantime, I suggest that parents protect their children by being proactive. Installing a browser for kids will keep your child from visiting unapproved and/or unsafe websites. No matter how much you trust your children, it is just too easy to click on a link that looks like fun, but ends up being inappropriate.
By Christy Matte, About.com Guide to Family Computing
Check out the link below for a video from Good Morning America that shows what happens on Nickelodeon and decide for yourself.
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via Me on Good Morning America.
