Service Employees International Union And League Of Young Voters Sponsor “Debt Disease” Video Contest

The Service Employees International Union and The League of Young Voters recently sponsored a contest to create a public service announcement on the topic of “debt disease.”  The winning video will be announced on April 23 2008.

The contest, entitled:  “Keep It In Your Pants” was open to students as young as age 14, from middle school through graduate school.   The contest and videos is part of an ongoing effort by SEIU and LYV to educate youth on the dangers associated with incurring credit card debt.

Such educational efforts are warranted.   College students are one of the credit card industry’s fastest-growing markets, with an estimated 78% of college students having at least one credit card.

 In a March 2008 news release Stephen Lerner of SEIU stated:  “Credit card debt can ruin your life, spreading and growing like a disease”. “We’re warning young people of the dangers of ‘Debt Disease’ — and urging them to protect themselves the same way they would against any other dangerous and contagious social epidemic.”

Five videos have been selected as finalists.  The five final directors are:  Nicholas Baker, Michigan State University, Angel Ho, University of Pennsylvania, and Aimee Phillips, Leanna Pribonic and Jordan Unternaher, all students at Central Ohio Technical College.

All five of the final videos can be seen at http://www.KeepItInYourPants.org/entercontest.cfm.  The winning director will receive $5,000.00 and the four runner ups will receive $500.00 each toward educational expenses.