Action for Children's Television (ACT) was founded by Peggy Charren, Lillian Ambrosino, Evelyn Kaye Sarson and Judy Chalfen in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, in 1968 as a grassroots, nonprofit child advocacy group dedicated to improving the quality of television programming offered to children. Specifically, ACT's main goals were to encourage diversification in children's television offerings, to discourage overcommercialization of children's programming, and to eliminate deceptive advertising aimed at young viewers. ACT had up to 20,000 volunteer members, eight staff members, and an operational budget of $225,000 by the mid-1980s, but declined financially and to four staff members before disbanding in 1992. About 70% of funds came from the group's membership, while the rest came from foundation grants (e.g. Markle Foundation) and fees from lectures and book sales. History The 1960s ACT's initial focus was the Boston edition of the syndicated Romper Room, a children's show which promoted toys tied into or branded with the program to its viewers. In the late 1960s, ACT also targeted Saturday-morning cartoons that featured superheroes and violence, including The Herculoids, Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lone Ranger, Super President and Fantastic Four. The group influenced, through pressure it exerted upon the U.S. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, the networks to remove those shows from the air by the start of the 1969-70 television season, and the programs were replaced by the likes of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, H.R. Pufnstuf, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, and other light comedy-fantasy programs. The 1970s In 1970, ACT first petitioned the FCC to ban advertising from children's programming. In 1971, then-President of ACT, Evelyn Kaye Sarson, presented the head of the FCC with a petition, wrapped as a Christmas present, asking for an end to advertising on all programs for children. When this tactic failed, in subsequent years, it sought a more limited prohibition, namely eliminating commercials for specific categories of products. In 1971, ACT challenged the promotion of vitamins, usually fruit-flavored ones that resembled candy, to children. "One-third of the commercials were for vitamin pills, even though the bottles said, 'Keep out of reach of children' because an overdose could put them in a coma," said Charren. Responding to ACT's campaign, vitamin-makers voluntarily withdrew their advertising. In addition to petitioning for the FCC to ban advertising, ACT requested the FCC to publish a public notice of