This Little Piggy Went to the Market: Free Range, Uncaged

I KNEW Free Range Studios HAD to be the animation movie team riffing on the tune ‘Superstition’ with dancing piggies and agribusiness villains to inspire voters to take action on industrial farm animal cruelty for HSUS. (playful video after the jump) For children, the animation in "Uncaged" is cute and clever enough to get the point across, (and for teens to … [Read more...]

Got 5 Friends? Google Maps + Celebrities Rock the Vote

Got 5 minutes? Watch this video. Got 5 friends? Tell ‘em to register NOW to vote. Some states close their voter registration in less than 72 hours, as early as October 4th. (deadlines for each state here) Other states have ‘postmark by’ dates. Some let you register later if you show up in person. Don’t get shut out. Register NOW. Go to … [Read more...]

Will California’s New Menu Labeling Help Kids’ Health?

Congrats, wellness crusaders, the L.A. Times reports California is officially the first state in the nation to enact menu labeling policy for calorie count info on menu boards and food displays of chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets, phased in by 2011. (SB1420 fact sheet here and CSPI press release here) Wait a sec, didn’t we already approve this? I gave it 200% … [Read more...]

Want Change? Obama or McCain, It’s In The Bag

Leave it to our consumptionist culture to create a “Make A Change” designer handbag with a cause-marketing twist. A portion of the proceeds go to Rock the Vote, but I dare say at $95 a pop, teens are not the target market here. Any over-spent millennials with student loans out the wazoo want to fork out $95 to help your peers Rock the Vote? I say give it to … [Read more...]

Do Youth See Politicians As Puppets?

As MyDebates.org gives kids a MySpace forum for Social Studies classrooms to attempt to instill a civic sense of  ‘how it all works’ with “Who won? Who lost?’ Who made the stronger case?” it makes me ponder if we're perhaps asking kids the wrong question entirely. I'm all for teaching kids how to watch a debate, and giving media literacy … [Read more...]