Author to Discuss How Big Business Targets Kids

Best-selling author and legal scholar Joel Bakan will make two Bay Area appearances on Thursday to discuss his latest book, Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children."

In his book, Bakan informs parents of the dangers posed by corporations and to some extent the government that sets the policies that allow big business to target children. 

He identifies several key areas as the main battle zones in this "siege on children," including marketing manipulation, exposure to violent video games, early sexualization through the media, over medication, environmental health issues and child labor. 

This is the follow-up to Bakan's 2004 best-selling title The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, an account of how corporations have risen in the last 150 years to become a dominant economic force, wielding immense power over governments and society as a whole. The book was the basis for the documentary film of the same name, which was recently shown at the Belmont Public Library.

Joel Bakan will speak at two locations on Thursday:

•  12:15 p.m. at the Oshman Family Jewish Center, 3921 Fabian Way in Palo Alto. A question and answer period will follow his presentation. 
• 7:00 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library, 1110 Alameda de las Pulgas. Light refreshments will be provided.