Rep Honda Lauds Ad Council PSA Campaign About Bullying

Statement

Today, US Rep Michael Honda, as founder and chair of the Congressional Anti-Bullying Caucus, released the following statement:

Nearly 1 in 4 children in the U.S reports experiences with bullying while more than 80% of high school students in the U.S. report that they witness bullying at least once a week. We know that parents can have a significant impact on bullying by proactively having conversations with their children about low risk actions children can take as a bystander.

In order to encourage and empower parents with the tools they need to talk to their child about being more than a bystander, a new national Ad Council PSA campaign has been launched on behalf of federal government, non-profit, media and corporate communities.

Partners in this effort include Marlo Thomas' Free To Be Foundation, AOL, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, the Wait Institute for Violence Prevention, and the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Additionally, many media partners have donated and developed PSAs featuring their talent and creative including New York ad agency DBB, Lee Hirsch, director of the award-winning documentary, Bully, the MLB Network, Univision, and Turner Broadcasting.

Through this collaboration, the campaign will raise awareness about the seriousness of the issue and highlight simple, yet powerful actions children can take when they witness an act of bullying, like tell a trusted adult or help the person being bullied get away from the situation. Parents are directed to stopbullying.gov where they can hear advice from experts, students and other parents on how to empower their children to be more than a bystander and help stop bullying nationwide.

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