Latest news with #NicoleHockley
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
54% of Boys Report Regularly Seeing Sexualized Firearm Content Online, Study Shows
Fact checked by Sarah ScottNew research from Sandy Hook Promise shows gun makers are marketing online content to young boys. 54% of boys surveyed reported seeing sexually charged firearm content at least once a week. Just about a quarter of parents surveyed are aware that their kids are following influencers who promote gun content.A man with bulging biceps, tattoos down to his wrists, and a neatly trimmed beard walks on screen next to two women with glossy hair and perfectly done makeup. An assault rifle drops into the man's hands as he lets out an expletive, and he turns and fires the gun at a distant target. A graphically enhanced blast from the gun blows the women's clothes off, leaving her in her underwear. This YouTube video has racked up 10 million views to date. How many of them were boys under 18? According to recently released research from the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, the answer is that boys are seeing hypersexualized gun content like this online much more often than parents think. This survey comes at a time when boys are inundated with confusing societal messages about manhood, and firearms continue to be the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. Nicole Hockley, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, believes this makes for a dangerous mix. 'This kind of marketing preys on young boys' insecurities and how they see themselves. It's the same kind of messaging that influenced the shooter who murdered my son and 25 others at Sandy Hook Elementary. This type of marketing isn't just irresponsible—it's dangerous and it has deadly consequences,' she tells Parents. This latest research is a part of the nonprofit's UnTargeting Kids campaign, which seeks to raise awareness about gun manufacturers' marketing to children. A Remington Arms marketing brief obtained during a lawsuit Sandy Hook Promise brought against the gunmaker clearly stated that 'youth' was among the company's primary target audiences. Sandy Hook Promise is also using the campaign to promote solutions that lawmakers, gun manufacturers, social media developers, and parents can implement. While the video described above is not intended for children, for example, social media loopholes make this kind of content easily accessible to them. Tech industry experts like Titania Jordan, the Chief Marketing Officer for Bark Technologies, a parental controls company that helps families keep their kids safe online and in real life, agrees with and applauds Sandy Hook Promise for taking this approach. 'This is absolutely an urgent issue. Every day, children are being harmed because of unmonitored, unfiltered tech access,' she says. The goal of Sandy Hook Promise's recent survey was to better understand how firearm ads reach boys online, how they impact their views on guns, and whether parents know this content is reaching their kids. The survey included boys ages 10 to 17 and parents of boys in the same age bracket. Participants came from households both with and without firearms. It is also worth noting that Sandy Hook Promise includes influencer-generated content in their definition of firearm ads because it is likely that at least some influencers are receiving payments or free products for their content. More than half of the boys surveyed (54%) reported seeing sexually charged firearm content at least once a week. But boys in households with guns were even more likely to be exposed to this content, and boys who frequently played video games were more than two times more likely to see sexually charged gun content than those who didn't. Thirty-two percent of the boys follow influencers who promote firearms, and 38% had clicked on a firearm ad. Meanwhile, only 27% of parents are aware that their child follows influencers who promote firearms. 'When we show some of the ads to parents, they're shocked because it's not coming through their [own] feeds,' Hockley says. Most notably, 77% of both parents and boys agree that companies should not be allowed to advertise firearms to children under 18. This could indicate that boys are not comfortable with this content, and may even be able to identify on some level that it's harmful. A 2023 report published by Sandy Hook Promise also points out that in some cases, boys are not even seeking out this type of content; the social media algorithms are feeding it to them. Sandy Hook Promise takes the stance that children and teenagers are 'biologically disadvantaged' against gun manufacturers' marketing strategies. Research on the adolescent brain supports this. Until the brain is fully developed, which happens in the mid-twenties, a person is more sensitive to rewarding experiences and less able to control their impulses, regulate their emotions, and understand the consequences of their actions. Boys today are surrounded by messages that tell them being a man is about being tough, always in control, and surrounded by attractive women. This is an impossible and unrealistic vision of manhood that sets boys up for failure, disappointment, and frustration. But online gun content seems to target and feed into this insecurity by telling boys that a gun is a shortcut to achieving this vision. In other words, what's being sold through this kind of marketing strategy is much more than just a gun. Layer that on top of the teen mental health crisis—40% of high school students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness—and it becomes clear how detrimental this kind of messaging can be. 'We're not saying [gun manufacturers should] stop marketing firearms,' Hockley says. 'We're saying do it in an ethical way that includes ensuring that kids aren't seeing this [content].' Jordan encourages parents to acquaint themselves with this type of gun content. 'Until you see what your children are seeing, you're not going to realize the problem,' she says. She also provided several recommendations to help parents manage their children's relationship to technology. Don't allow phones in bedrooms or behind closed doors. When phones are needed for homework, it should happen in a shared area of the house. Explore the apps your kids want to use. Parents can explore apps first before kids download them to get a sense of what the app environment is like. Monitor video game ratings. They help protect developing minds from harmful messages and content that might be too strong for them. Teach media literacy. Understanding that 'free' platforms aren't really free helps kids think more critically about their digital decisions. Talk about games where shooting and killing are the primary focus. Conversations with kids about killing games help to ensure they are not being desensitized. Screenshot inappropriate gun marketing content and circulate it. When other parents experience this content, they are more likely to get involved and push for change. There is also a petition on Sandy Hook Promise's website urging lawmakers to ban the advertising of firearms to children in the same way that alcohol and tobacco have been banned from being marketed to them. Surveys like the one from Sandy Hook Promise give parents critical insight into what is happening in boys' worlds right now. For as long as it continues to reach children, hypersexualized gun marketing can never be categorized as purely entertainment content. Watching pretty women getting their clothes blown off by a gun shapes how boys view the world and their place in it. Parents should be able to control who and what informs this worldview—not an algorithm and not gun manufacturers. Read the original article on Parents
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A New Survey Finds 80 Percent of Parents Think Gun Violence Changes What It Means To Be a Kid in America
Stories like Nicole Hockley's should never have to be told. When Hockley sent her first-grader to school on December 14th, 2012, she had no idea that their morning goodbye would be their last. But 6-year-old Dylan — along with 19 other children and 6 faculty members — would never come home to their families, instead falling victim to the unimaginable tragedy of the Sandy Hook school shooting. More from SheKnows I Lost My Son in the Sandy Hook Shooting 12 Years Ago Today - & Here's What I Need You to Know 'As a parent, you never think it could be you,' Hockley wrote for SheKnows on the 12th anniversary of the day she lost her son. Letting grief compel her forward, Hockley co-founded Sandy Hook Promise to honor her son and all the others killed in the senseless act: a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting children from gun violence in the places they should feel most safe. Recently, the organization polled around 1,000 parents of children 17 and under. Of those, 4 in 10 parents said they feel 'uncertain, frustrated or hopeless' about preventing violence in schools. Nearly half of the parents said they worried about gun violence at their child's school on a monthly basis, while 40 percent reported having those fears weekly or even daily. But that isn't all; parents also overwhelmingly feel that this issue is literally changing the carefree nature of childhood as we know it — and Sandy Hook Promise's gut-wrenching new PSA highlights this. The new PSA shines a spotlight on a sad reality: Gun violence truly has changed our kids' childhood experience, and the teddy bear is a perfect symbol of this. 'Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, more than 60,000 bears were sent to Newtown, Connecticut — so many that a storage facility was required,' says a press release from Sandy Hook Promise. 'These comfort objects, meant for playtime and companionship, have since become a go-to object placed at memorials.' For Hockley and the other founders of Sandy Hook Promise, whose children didn't get a fraction of the childhood they deserved, this is simply unacceptable. 'From our research, we know that 80% of parents feel that the threat of violence in schools has affected childhood in America today. At Sandy Hook Promise, we also know that school shootings are preventable when you know the signs, and that we all have a role to play in preventing this cycle from continuing,' Hockley tells SheKnows. 'With this PSA, we want to drive home the message that childhood doesn't have to be this way and encourage parents, educators, students and caring adults to learn the signs, so we can help ensure the innocent, carefree childhood our kids deserve.' According to the most recent data, released late last year, guns killed more children and teens (age 1 through 17) than any other cause — including car crashes and cancer. It's a daunting statistic, to be sure, but there's reason to be hopeful: Sandy Hook Promise's Know the Signs programs and Say Something anonymous reporting system have helped stop at least 18 planned school shootings — most recently at Mooresville High School in Indiana — and many other acts of suicide and self-harm. To confirm a prevented attack, they use a strict review process that checks for a clear threat, a plan, access to a weapon, and where the information came from. As Hockley says, childhood doesn't have to be this way. Parents, let's make sure it isn't. Learn more about how to make a change here. Best of SheKnows Chelsea Handler & Other Celebs Who Are Doing Just Fine Without Biological Children 'Mario Day' Is Today — & All the Can't-Miss Mario Bros. Deals Are Here! Wicked-Inspired Names Are Spiking — Here Are the Most 'Popular' Names from the Trend
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Yahoo
A Teddy Bear's Dreams Are Dashed in Sandy Hook Promise's Gut-Punching Ad
A teddy bear is typically a symbol of childhood innocence, comfort, and play. But in a harrowing ad from nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, the stuffed animal serves as a stark reminder of how the gun violence epidemic is impacting childhoods across the U.S. As the organization's latest public service announcement (PSA) reminds viewers, teddy bears are also often left at memorials in the aftermath of school shootings. The campaign centers around the notion that kids deserve to be kids, and that school shootings are preventable. "A Teddy Bear's Dream," created by agency BBDO New York and directed by Henry-Alex Rubin through production company Smuggler, at first appears to be a sweet story told through the eyes of a teddy bear. After a little girl picks out the toy in a store, the bear imagines a new life with the girl–playing, coloring, and riding bikes–to a light-hearted soundtrack of "Best of Friends" from Disney's classic 1981 film, The Fox and the Hound. The story takes a turn, however, when the true purpose of the teddy bear is revealed. The girl leaves it at a memorial for a school shooting, before images of multiple shrines from numerous tragedies appear on screen. The teddy bear symbol has a direct link to the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Following the tragedy, 60,000 bears were sent to Newtown–so many that a storage facility was required. Along with the PSA, Sandy Hook Promise has created a guide about how to recognize the warning signs before school shootings. It is also selling a limited-edition teddy bear called the "Hope Bear," with all proceeds going to gun violence prevention educational programs. Today (March 10), the nonprofit revealed that it recently helped prevent a planned school shooting in Florida after receiving more than 40 tips about threatening social media messages to its Say Something Anonymous Reporting System. Following an investigation, Florida authorities determined the 14-year-old student had a plan for an attack and charged them with threatening communications or threats of a mass shooting, according to Sandy Hook Promise. The organization also said that since its creation in 2018, it has helped prevent at least 18 credible planned school shootings. With this campaign, Sandy Hook Promise wants to raise awareness of its services and educate others about how to prevent violence. "All across this country, there are tragic stories we will never hear about because a brave upstander recognized warning signs and did something to prevent a violent act," said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, whose son Dylan was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. "We all have a role to play in preserving childhood innocence and ensuring a teddy bear stays just that–an enduring symbol of childhood innocence and imagination." Eight in 10 parents feel the threat of school violence has affected childhood today, according to a February survey from KRC Research. BBDO NY has worked with Sandy Hook Promise over the past decade, including on the 2020 Emmy Award-winning PSA, "Back-to-School Essentials." "We're still steadfast in our commitment to educate people to know the signs of school shootings," Chris Beresford-Hill, worldwide chief creative officer of BBDO, said in a statement, adding that the agency's ads for Sandy Hook Promise have engaged millions of viewers and garnered more than 300 industry awards.
