Boys, Body Image and Sexualization: An Equal Opportunity Destroyer

Aug. 8, 2016 Update More new research shows marketing is responsible for creating body image issues with boys, which I've written about here, and certainly here devoted to the impact of 'bigorexia' on children's health for a decade, so no surprise there. BBC News reports the survey was conducted by advertising think tank Credos...Ironically, this excellent NYT think piece … [Read more...]

Graduation, Prom, Pressure, Stress? Keeping Up With The Joneses

June 1, 2012 Personally, I don’t think 8th grade and ‘cocktail dress’ should be uttered in the same sentence, but alas, there are entire websites ratcheting up the ‘kids getting older younger’ (KGOY) effect of marketing mania turning ‘tweens’ into 8th grade glamorama Disney divas with little regard for kids’ socioemotional health and developmental milestones. As 8th grade … [Read more...]

Visa Spending Survey Invalidated: Stats Are Bogus, Yet No Retraction?

May 30, 2012 Before we ramp up with the next surge of ‘graduation spending’ stats or infographics citing what ‘media’ deem to be ‘credible sources’ without diving deeper into fact checking, I’d like to ask media pundits, where is our collective knowledge gain? We’ve got far more than 22 pages of Google results citing ‘junk science’ as fact from reputable news organizations … [Read more...]

Prom Spending Surges? Media Panics, Hype & Critical Thinking

May 15, 2015 Update! Great then/now retrospective in the New York Times that spans proms over 60 years, all the way up to current "promposal" shenanigans, spending surges and social media selfies! Enjoy.  May 24, 2012 UPDATE woohoo! Called it! Validation happy dance! Today Show notes HUGE Visa survey inaccuracies in this blurb-> "Prom Spending Myth" but no one is seeing it … [Read more...]

Miss Travel: Misrepresentation Way Beyond Arm Candy

April 26, 2012 “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck”… It doesn’t take much inductive reasoning to see Miss Travel is afoul. That said, using critical thinking skills to see why this new ‘dating site’ offering ‘free travel for attractive people’ (ahem, cough, prosti-travel) doesn’t pass the sniff test is a useful mini-lesson. Miss Travel is a teachable … [Read more...]