Sharing the Message of Child Safety

In 1993, NCSC was approached by MCI to help promote a Kid Card to be distributed throughout the country.

The information was first printed in English, and as the program expanded it merited a Spanish version printing. For our contribution to this program, National Child Safety Council and Safetypup^® were included on the publications and Safetypup^® costumes were used at each Bloomingdale's event held in several malls. Information about this program reached: The Detroit News; The PR Newswire Association Inc.; NEWSGRID; The Washington Post; Glenside News - Times Chronicle; and The Mainliner. Approximately 150,000 MCI Kid Cards were distributed.

The program included:

• A plastic card featuring Safetypup^® on which kids can keep important emergency telephone numbers.
• A parent's book to help teach kids telephone safety rules.

MCI hosted Kid Card events in the following cities where MCI offices are located:

• Phoenix, Arizona
• Austin, Texas
• Denver, Colorado
• Arlington, Virginia (with Virginia's First Lady, Susan Allen present)
• Sacramento, California
• Albuquerque, New Mexico

In 1986, the consumer products division of Clairol promoted child safety with a coupon redemption program that helped raise funds for National Child Safety Council.

More than 188,000,000 coupons were distributed in a freestanding insert in the Sunday edition of 47,000,000 newspapers nationwide promoting the program featuring Safetypup®.

Clairol also offered consumers the opportunity to obtain a free Life Tag™ (Emergency Medical Microfilm Viewer developed by NCSC) with their coupon redemption. Included with each Life Tag™ was a booklet on safety basics developed by NCSC.

The program was announced:

• in freestanding newspaper inserts
• in in-ad certificates
• on in-store shelf-talkers
• on in-store risers
• in television billboard spots featuring all major Clairol brands

In 1991, Safetypup^® and NCSC teamed up with Dow Chemical to help put together a booklet on Bathroom Safety. This 24-page booklet was offered in various ads in magazines along with contests on safety tips. The booklet featured safety tips on topics such as: cleansers, falls due to water, hot water, electricity & water, poisoning, children, seniors, & child proofing.

The Hawaiian Punch trademark character, "Punchy^®" was published along with Safetypup^® on the inside back cover of tens of thousands of drug educational manuals that were distributed through NCSC's programs nationwide.

The Council also received Punchy^® Telephones which were donated by Proctor & Gamble. These were used in classrooms by departments to help teach children the proper way to dial 9-1-1 and to report a fire.

A safety meal box with a set of crayons.

 

Four Safety Booklets:
When I'm Home Alone
Beware of Poisons
Home Fire Safety
Kitchen Safety

There were 110,000 copies printed of each booklet, or 440,000 total booklets printed. These materials were not only enjoyed by the children, but they taught valuable safety tips, too. All materials featured NCSC's character Safetypup^® and on the back of each of the books was an invitation for kids to join the {modal /images/about/sonic-safetypup-fan-club.png}Safetypup^® Fan Club.{/modal}

A nationwide drug prevention and education program aimed at educating today's youth about the dangers of substance abuse was developed in May 1990 in partnership with: National Child Safety Council, Department of Justice (FBI, DEA, OJJDP), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, and 22 motorsports sanctioning organizations.

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With the assistance from FBI and DEA agents and America's motorsports celebrities, the program conveyed to youth that there is no such thing as "harmless" drug use. Additionally, through the color, speed, and excitement of motorsports, the program provided young people with creative options to deal successfully with drug issues that face them on a day-to-day basis.

Since its inception, a national network of committed and dedicated volunteers has implemented over 2,000 programs at shopping malls, schools, communities, and motorsports events throughout the country.

Program materials included student workbooks, teacher's guides, videos, posters, decals, etc. One unique and exciting program option is the "Adopt-A-School" program in which students at each school prepare posters and/or write essays to compete for up to $2,000 in scholarships. The success of these programs was attributed to the ingenuity, participation, and support from individual race car drivers; the racing industry; local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies; educators; the business community; and volunteers. The program was supported by a private-public partnership receiving funding from the federal government and from companies such as K-Mart Corporation and Proctor & Gamble-Tide Brand.

NCSC is proud that this was the first time in the history of the FBI that such a partnership had been established.

Kid Safe^®, a former division of NCSC, sponsored a day-long special event presented free of charge to parents and children ages 4-14. With the help of Safetypup^® and the Krackle Kids™, the program was designed to teach kids how to think and react safely, especially when their parents are not home. Originally developed in 1984, the Kid Safe^® program was implemented in more than 200 cities and 35 states nationwide.

 

A Kid Safe^® event becomes a community event when dedicated law enforcement officers, fire departments, and other organizations join the community hospital in presenting vital information to children. The day was an active blend of education and fun.

The children and their parents followed an illustrated Trail Guide to Safety which summarized important points from each stop during the day. Kid Safe^® Events often included a visit from Safetypup^®. The events generated a lot of enthusiasm as well as newspaper and television coverage.

Children obtained information on:

• Fire Safety
• Traffic Safety
• Water Safety
• Emergency Telephone Training
• Emergency First Aid
• Responsible Babysitting
• Drug Abuse Prevention

A variety of promotional items were made available to grocery and convenience stores, including posters, safety glow strips, display cards, etc. An inflatable Safetypup^®, standing 4 feet tall and carrying a 2-foot trick-or-treat bag featuring a Halloween safety message appeared in displays in the most popular spots of the stores across the nation.

Another first for National Child Safety Council was a joint venture with the Bank of Baltimore in 1990 to introduce the NCSC Safetypup^® Visa card.

The NCSC Safetypup^® Visa card had a very low percentage rate (16.8%), a low annual fee ($20), and many enhancements found only in more expensive credit cards. It was a fundraiser for NCSC and acted as an additional positive tool for NCSC because of the Safetypup^® exposure.

The program, in turn, donated one-half of all annual fees as well as 3/8 of 1% of all interest charges made on each purchase using the Safetypup^® Visa card. These funds were dedicated toward further development of NCSC's child safety projects.

Safetypup^®'s Birthday is February 12th

Chase's Calendar of Events is the standard reference for event and observance information in the U.S. Thousands of libraries, broadcasters & print media, websites, and more look to Chase's for interesting facts every day.

Safetypup^®'s birthday has appeared in Chase's Calendar of Events since 1993, generating hundreds of calls a year requesting information on Safetypup^®, his birthday, and our educational safety materials. Because of the interest in Safetypup^®, hundreds of Safetypup^® Birthday Packets have been provided to classrooms and individuals.

Deka Plastics, Inc., of Elizabeth, NJ, created a campaign to promote child abuse prevention education and awareness. Deka Plastics' plan was to market children's mugs using cute, animated characters which delivered appealing and instructional safety messages. The fact that Deka donated 5% of all of its proceeds to help our fight to keep children safe definitely exhibited Deka's corporate heart is in the right place, too!

The series of four mugs, featuring messages on playground safety, street safety, telephone safety, and home safety were available at K-mart stores nationwide. They were also designed to further parent/child dialogue about the problems of abuse and molestation.