When the advertising industry started giving itself Golden Marble Awards for children’s product ads, Berkeley psychologist Allen Kanner and some colleagues countered with their own “They’ve Lost Their Marbles” awards.

That led Kanner to co-found the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in 2000. Based in Boston, the group aims to limit marketing to children through lobbying, letter-writing campaigns and other advocacy.

Kanner, now father of 4-year-old Cassidy Kanner-Gomes, remains on the group’s steering committee. For more information, visit commercialfreechildhood.org.

Why is it bad to expose children to marketing?

Most of what is marketed to children is bad for them because that is what’s easiest to sell and has the highest profit margins: junk food, violent media, sexualized clothing, especially for young girls. Children are not cognitively equipped to understand the manipulation. They don’t understand that the person on the television doesn’t have their best interest at heart. And the meta message across all advertising is that the accumulation of material wealth is the road to all happiness.

So how do you avoid it? Some characters, like the Disney princesses, are everywhere.

There’s much parents can do, and there are things parents can’t do alone.

Reducing television time is probably the single biggest item in terms of avoiding marketing. Even one day a week without television would be a big step.

We have a television, but we don’t watch it. We don’t find ourselves searching for things to do.

What else can be done?

I don’t think it’s possible to shield your child from all marketing. We also need to do it as a society. There’s no good reason to advertise to children. A number of countries, including Sweden and Greece, have banned marketing to children under 12.

Are you surrounded by like-minded people, or are you the crazy family that doesn’t watch TV?

My friends have mostly been respectful, and some have been very encouraging. They’ll turn off the television when we come over. One thing I discovered with my own mom was that when I took time to acknowledge her good intentions when she wanted to buy something for Cassidy I didn’t want her to get, it made all the difference.

What’s the difference between playing with a stuffed Minnie Mouse and playing with another stuffed mouse?

When children have a licensed character, they play very narrowly. They only do what they’ve seen the character do on TV. When they have a generic character, their imagination will go much more broadly and freely.