CPSC Launches Campaign to Prevent Tip-Over Deaths and Injuries
Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 07, 2015 -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has launched a multi-media public service advertising (PSA) campaign with a single important message for parents and caregivers: anchor all furniture that can be accessed by small children.
The PSA campaign, which is a part of the recently launched larger CPSC public education campaign called Anchor It!, will target more than 2,200 media outlets nationwide. The PSAs are designed to drive home the overall campaign message that one child dies every two weeks and a child goes to the emergency room every 24 minutes because a TV, furniture – or a combination of both - tips over on them, but these tragedies can be prevented.
In addition to these alarming stats, a recent CPSC study also found:
•81 percent of all tip-over incidents occur at home;
•Of all furniture and TV tip-over fatalities, 65% involve children younger than five;
•There are an estimated 38,000 emergency-department injuries related to TV and furniture tip-over incidents every year.
The Anchor It! campaign includes PSAs aimed at local broadcast stations, national TV networks, 500 local cable TV systems and major out-of-home companies to promote a dedicated website, http://www.AnchorIt.gov. The site outlines the dangers of tip-overs and explains how easy it is to secure furniture and TVs properly. The PSAs, which can be viewed on AnchorIt.gov, shows a hazard in the home that is unknown to most parents, yet has a simple solution.
“Unsecured furniture and TVs in homes with little ones who love to climb creates a dangerous tip-over scenario,” said CPSC Commissioners Marietta Robinson and Joseph Mohorovic. “We’ve launched the Anchor It! Campaign to give parents the facts on how to safely and simply anchor their TVs and furniture so we can stop these preventable tragedies.”
Foundations, organizations, and companies will collaborate with CPSC and serve as Anchor It! Advocates, to deliver safety messages to their communities and participate in earned and social media efforts. In addition, HGTV star Tiffany Brooks, an interior designer, wife, mother and HGTV host, will serve as an Anchor It! campaign spokesperson, along with CPSC Commissioners Robinson and Mohorovic.
Cards and posters providing tips and describing the hidden dangers of tip-overs, as well as the simple steps to eliminate these dangers, are being distributed to parents and caregivers of toddlers at daycare centers and pre-schools.
The media can download broadcast quality TV PSAs at: http://www.goodwillcommunications.com/PSADigitalFiles.aspx?campId=339
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually.
For more information on the campaign, contact Julie Walsh at 202-518-6489 or
julie(dot)walsh(at)finnpartners(dot)com.
Julie Walsh, Finn Partners, http://www.AnchorIt.gov, +1 202-518-6489, [email protected]
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