Hot Digital Dog! Virtual Pets, Animal Avatars & Fun Sims

This is Max II, (the sequel) admittedly not a virtual dog. MaxII is a very real pup entering the life of one of my dearest friends, Brett Montana, who runs The Pet Staff, an award-winning dog walking, training and pet-sitting service in the L.A. area. Brett keeps me apprised of "tails" in Hollywood circles and tempers my reaction to all the wild and wacky pet trends in … [Read more...]

Kids’ Food Fight Turns Into Industry DodgeBall Game

In a lame regurgitation of ad industry protectionism today, AdRants once again veers onto the path of mindless myopia toting the party line that “Obesity is not marketers’ fault” in the usual parental blame game that we’ve “got it all backwards.” (No adjacent photo credit, as AdRants didn't cite one) AdRants snips that kids aren’t … [Read more...]

“See Jane Speak:” Gender, Race, & Kids’ Media

Ready to take on the Madison Ave. media machine? We are! Shaping Youth is honored to have been selected to lead our Squashing Stereotypes interactive workshop for teens at Mind on the Media in New York this June! Shaping Youth joins leaders in the field of advertising and media (including our fave folks at Dove Campaign for Real Beauty) to deconstruct media messaging, … [Read more...]

Kids Are A Captive Audience With Ambient Advertising

Mar. 2007 (retro post) Don't worry, I'd never show the billboard, but let me get this straight: The L.A. Times reports that kids and teens were horrified by outdoor ads of grotesque torture and objectification of women used to promote the release of Lionsgate films’ Captivity...But now we’re supposed to cheer, because the gruesome signage is being removed and wasn't … [Read more...]

Snack Attack: Counter-Marketing Using Shaping Youth’s “THREEP”

For all those parents who have winced, cringed, nagged and cajoled to stop training kids like Pavlov’s dogs to salivate at sports whistles and expect a snack at every game, here’s a round-up of handy hints to rein in the junk food snack pack syndrome. If you’re pulling out your hair watching kids play a healthy sport while tanking up their bodies with … [Read more...]