July 7, 2011 Good news! New Moon Girls has created a prototype ‘virtual girl caught sticker’ you can slap on some of the repeat brand offenders commodifying kids to call ‘em out social media style…In essence: “GIRL CAUGHT” so we can girlcott and start to seed change.
Tired of sexploitation of kids to sell swimsuits? (must read media by PigtailPals about lead visual here)
Do you feel helpless about corporations slipping in hipster innuendo like “Go ahead. Make a baby” into Webkinz World? (this absurdity is removed now, thanks to childrens’ advocacy group CCFC)
Are you wincing at corporate pedophilia dangling dollars to clueless parents cashing in on “modeling” in provocative poses? (see APA study on early sexualization damage/harm)
It’s guerrilla marketing time! Think “Blame Drew’s Cancer” in terms of how people can ‘let off steam productively’ using social media to SPARK change, and help fund the coffers of companies that are POSITIVE picks in media messaging.
We’re asking coders and probono pals to lend ideas for viral marketing, and make the sticker easily sizable so it can dominate photos to cover up the image strategically to use media with mindfulness rather than give the scoundrels free press. Time to ‘show and tell’ with a shoutout from the windows using our own networks with a Howard Beale outcry to convey enough is enough!
At the very basic grassroots level, I’d also like a roll of REAL stickers for summer fun to deploy among youth teams in subversive ‘girl caught’ style…Yes, it’s “graffiti” but it’s removable, which is more than I can say for the ambient imagery these corporations continue to serve up en masse defacing kids’ psyches with NON-removable harm…
I’d also like to help mega-market this campaign with full tilt viral opportunities to ‘engage’ like the big agencies do to seed, support, embed and offer contests for “user generated content” via mobile. (any host platforms willing to take this on? DoSomething.org?)
I can envision some fun ‘print your own’ customizable capabilities…so youth become ‘street teams’ with the push of a printer button.
I could see Threadless.com tee or crowdsourced user generated contests for off-shoot slogans…
Iron-ons, cause-‘twibbons’ and badges for social media profiles, youth video contests and mobile media user generated photo galleries…
Link love for participating bloggers and brands that actively engage and support that cross-promotes and boosts search engine optimization and like-minded crusaders…
I’d even envision a probono Code for America massive ‘wall’ of tweets weaving support using a Twitter hashtag like CFA did for July 4 to enable people to share their rebel yell for social responsibility and tell marketers ENOUGH so we can start holding brands accountable.
Too much to ask? I think not.
I’m ready to rally digerati do-gooders and au courant social media mavens like gal pal and fellow parent Beth Kanter to lend her advice and media outreach prowess…
Tap into our Age of Conversation global blogger probono team who has ‘been there, done that’ uniting multiple countries in social enterprise cause-marketing…
And help New Moon Girls raises the bar by lowering the focal point of AGE compression spotlighting the damage and harm to VERY young girls posed as props and pornified ‘come hither’ crapola.
About-Face.org deployed street theater and some similar guerrilla tactics to promote better body image on mirrors in dressing rooms, and other sites like SparkSummit.com have an entire gallery of “girl caught” brands exploiting bods for bucks…So I have no doubt we’ll have the summer to create a coalition with a similar credo to join forces this fall when New Moon Girls launches their ‘Girl Caught’ campaign, slated for Girls’ Day Sept 22, 2011…
Have probono skill sets to lend a hand or deploy usable ideas across multiple platforms?
Mobile? Social media? Shall we tell the story through transmedia? I say fight fire with fire to glean eyeballs, whack wallets and transfer funds to positive businesses. (oooh, I can see a fun graphic widget deployed there, like Robin Hood swiping from cruddy cues and hailing healthy ones!)
New Moon Girls could clearly use some of the fun and rowdy tweakage like the great “Scholastic For Sale” spoof/satire using visual insights to call out the disconnects and gaffes of commercialization in schools and ad creep infiltration.
I could see a similar ‘girl caught’ campaign extending to larger brand pairing to quickly differentiate ‘the good guys’ from corporate practices that continue to exploit and profit on the backs of kids…not just the sexualization, but calling out the subversive embedding of junk food ads into social media gaming, the overt use of advergaming, and the impact on public health using ‘work arounds’ designed to ditch parents altogether and market directly to kids.
As the New Moon Girls campaign shapes up, they’ll be pulling in fellow actionists, parenting orgs, youth advocacy, and colleagues ready to brew up solutions-based branding to strip away the ‘hold harmless’ sexualization loopholes that corporations cling to and maneuver like a provocative dancer on a stripper pole.
Enough we say. Leave kids alone. End the predatory marketing practices.
And parents, fergawdsakes, quit selling your kids hides for a buck to ‘model’ for this objectified pablum proliferating media at high volume.
The price we’ll pay to mine kids childhood will ultimately cost us all.
Further Reading On Sexualization by Amy Jussel
On Shaping Youth (yes, just a wee bit vehement about this crud)…MY first GirlCaught sticker would go smack dab onto Vogue Mag’s ‘Cadeaux’ creation…And my first ‘user generated visual?’ A hand-stamped parenting “LICENSE REVOKED” graphic reminding that some folks just shouldn’t ‘breed.’ 😉
Vogue Cadeaux: Children ARE Gifts, Not To Be Bought or Sold
Bottom Feeders Like American Apparel Need Whacked in The Assets
Vamp Tramp Toys: A Monster Problem (Mattel)
Tips From the Trenches: Re-Imagining Youth Activism
Body Blitz: APA Shows Harm of Early Sexualization
Steamed About Sexualization? Healthy Media for Youth Act: Pt1
Healthy Youth Media Act: Can Change Be Legislated? Pt2
Teen Girls: Ready for a Rebel Yell to Spark Change?
Toxic Messaging: K-Mart/Alloy Episodic Back to School
Girls Are Not Candies, Tweens Are Not Teens, Thongs Are Not Undies
Baiting Outrage: Using Hooks With Media Mindfulness
Sexualization Summit to Spark Change!
Spark Ignites a Summit of Powerhouses, Geena Davis & More
The Girl Revolution: Empowering Girls Vs. Consuming Them
New Moon Girl Media Community Online
Girls Prescription for Self-Worth: Respect Rx
Raising Girls Amidst Meat Marketing: Carl’s Jr, Burger King Raunch
Taking Aim at Target: Think That V is a Coinkydink?
When It’s Not Hip to Be Square, Sexist Spongebob & Burger Shots
Sexed Up M&Ms Sell Fashionably Decadent Premium Sleaze
Mama’s Got A Brand New Bag…Er…Face. Nose. Belly.
Body Image: Tips for Teens (Both Genders!) To Survive the Media Morass
What Sells: Infants As Fashion Statements & Joke Props?
So Sexy So Soon, Shaping Youth Talks to Jean Kilbourne
Beyonce’s Dereon Divas: PopTarts and Sesame Streetwalkers?
Sexist Undies: Slimy Santa Innuendo Gets the Heave Ho-Ho-Ho!
Bratz Movie Seeps Bratitude Into Kid Culture
Where My Dogs At? A Misogynistic Misfire-MTV2
Pussycat Dolls Vamp for Lame TV-the ‘F’ Word is Feminist? Hardly.
Celeb Pop Culture and Media’s Tipping Point of Toxicity
Hollywood Walk of Lame—Victoria’s Secret Models ‘Earn’ Star? For WHAT?
Mommy, Why Are Her Legs Spread Like That?
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Shaping Youth Is In the L.A. Times (Miley Mess |
Kids Are A Captive Audience With Ambient Advertising
Race, Gender, Sexism: Pop Culture Cues & Kids (3-part series)
Commodification of Kids: The Backlash Has Begun
Shaping Youth Through Ambient Advertising
Manga Makeovers And Other Body Image Cartoon Capers
Facelifts for Kiddie Characters?
Gender, Race & Sexism: Shaping Youth Through Pop Culture Cues
Girls As Boy Toys Takes an Even More Toxic Turn
Preteen Tips/How to Say it To Girls
America the Beautiful: See it. Support it.
Childhood Matters Radio Show: Raising Strong, Healthy Girls Today
Packaging Boyhood Authors/Interview: What ABOUT the Boys?
Packaging Boyhood: Corporate Pirates Raid Boys’ Souls
Turning Boys Into Monsters: Energy Drink Leaves A Foul Taste (Again!)
Buffed Boy, Body Image and Tween Scene ‘Hottie’ Factor
Media Literacy Resources for Empowering Girls (Besides Shaping Youth, Dr.Robyn Silverman, AdProofing, PigtailPals.com, So Sexy So Soon, Respect Rx, Rachel Simmons.com, Rosalind Wiseman.com, The Girl Revolution, TrueChild, & other youth advocate blogs, see the list of resources on our sidebar e.g. aligned orgs like: About-Face, Daughters.com, Packaging Girlhood, Hardy Girls, Healthy Women etc.
Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Recos & Must Reads
So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne
Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes (Packaging Boyhood, Oct 2009; S.Y. Board Advisors)
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown
Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality Jane Brown et al (Eds)
APA Task Force on the Early Sexualization of Children (full 72pp pdf)
Girls Shape the Future: Study/Girls Inc: Early Predictors of Girls’ Adolescent Sexual Activity (summary: 8 pp pdf)
Resource List from So Sexy So Soon
CCFC Fact Sheet on Sexualizing Childhood
CCFC Two-Page pdf of stats & resources on sexualization
KFF.org “Sex on TV4″ Program for the study of media & health
Amy – we welcome all ideas and help to make Girl-Caught big this fall. We plan to launch Sept 22 – the Day of the Girl!
I’ve been advocating this type of creative response to my readers using real stickers (including the Girl Caught ones). I’m going to post this on my blog and encourage readers to get out there and join this campaign and to start being active consumers and activists who let their voices be heard. Love it!! Yea to Shaping Youth and New Moon Girls for providing this great tool and getting the campaign rolling. Nancy, we will join you on September 22!