Branding & Consumerism

Redefining Girly: Girls Rights Week W/Founder of Pigtail Pals

May 6, 2010 by Amy Jussel 3 Comments

May 6, 2010 Call her a mompreneur, entrepreneurista, or "the original PigTail Pal," Melissa Wardy is a mama bear with a mission and a voice that roars when it comes to changing the way our society thinks about girls. What better way to celebrate Girls Inc's Girls Rights Week than to honor the first year anniversary of a "stay-at-home mom turned work-at-home activist" … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: acid on their innocence, APA, bikinis, Candies, children, corporate ethics, empowerment, exploitation, G-string, girls inc., Girls' Rights Week, Human-billboards, innuendo, Kohls, Let her dream in every color, Melissa Wardy, panties, paper bag princess, PigTail Pals, preteens, redefining girly, self rescuing princess, sexuality, Sexualization, So Sexy So Soon, social justice, Tee shirts, thongs, undies, Wisconsin

Girls Are Not Candies. Tweens Are Not Teens. Thongs Are Not Undies.

May 4, 2010 by Amy Jussel 22 Comments

May 4, 2010 A few years back I commented on the post Confessions of a Lingerie Lover by Fae Goodman on Alternet and copped to being “one and the same.” Fae uncorked a doozy of a conversation that brought out the best/worst in femme debates as she pithily contrasted the difference between adult media messages and ‘costuming’ cues and the marketer’s desire to target adolescents, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Vapid Values Tagged With: 10 is the new 15, About-Face, acid on their innocence, adolescence, age compression, American Apparel, APA, aspirational marketing, Axe girls, best bottom contest, Body Blitz, Britney Spears, bustiers, butt floss, butts as billboards, Candies, children, confessions of a lingerie lover, corporate greed, corporate pedophilia, desensitizing, ethics, Fae Goodman, Free to be kids, G-strings, Girlcotts, Girls' Rights Week, HGHW, hypersexualization, innuendo, KGOY, Kids, Kohls, LimitedToo, lingerie, Lolita, Mama bear, Melissa Wardy, moral outrage, objectification, padded bikinis, panties, peekaboo, PigTail Pals, pink, Pop-Culture, preteens, raunchy ads, redefining girly, sex appeal, sexploitation, Sexualization, Sexualization & Body Image, slimy, So Sexy So Soon, tacky fashion, Tee shirts, thongs, training bras, tween baiting, tweens, Victoria's Secret, VS

Earth Day: 40 Eco Links Worth Recycling to Friends

April 22, 2010 by Amy Jussel 12 Comments

April 20, 2020 Update: (How often does that happen 20-2020?) 4-21-2020: Amidst the "Contagion" concerns of COVID-19, take a moment to imagine what POSITIVE CONTAGION taking action on climate change could look like... Here are just a few ways to engage and inspire kids with green media to advocate for our planet's future! 4-20-2018 update: I'll spare you the countless … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, Nutrition & Wellness, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: #EarthDay2016, altruism, apps, avatar, behavior, blue is the new green, Blue Planet, cause marketing, CauseWorld, change agents, climate change, dirty thirty, Discover the forest, Disneynature, Earth Day, eco, eco heroes, eco labels, eco literacy, eco-friendly, ecology, Energy Star, Envirolution, Environment, Forest Ethics, Fun theory, Get 'Em Outside, green games, Green my Parents, green toys, Green TV, Green-Teens, greenwashing, habitat, Heal the Bay, Healthy Child Healthy World, how to turn people green, influence, Kids, marketing hope, media-literacy, mindfulness, NCLI, Ocean Conservancy, oceanized, Oceans, One world, philanthropy, planet stewards, Plastiki, reach and teach, recycling, safe cosmetics, Save Our Seas, save the planet, Sea Turtles, service learning, social gaming, socially responsible, Sustainability, The Lorax, unplugged, youth

Commodification of Kids: The Backlash Has Begun

April 16, 2010 by Amy Jussel 17 Comments

April 16, 2010 About a year ago, TruthOut featured a poignant article called "Commodifying Kids, The Forgotten Crisis" by academic Henry A. Giroux, and though I read it with lots of head bobbing agreement on the tipping point of toxicity, I have to strongly DISagree with the "forgotten" notion. This issue is not the LEAST bit forgotten...it's on fire, baby and it's gaining … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Counter-marketing, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Adproofing, America the Beautiful movie, Amy-Jussel, APA, buffed boy, Candies, CCFC, childhood, Childhood Matters, coarseness, commodification, Consuming kids, consumption, corporate accountability, Counter-marketing, crass, CSR, digital-ads, Dr. Robyn, ethics, exploitation, Forgotten crisis, FTC, harm, Healthy media choices, Henry Giroux, HGHW, hottie factor, I'm not a prude but, Jess Weiner, KGOY, meat marketing, Media circus, media influence, media-literacy, Oakland schools, Packaging-Boyhood, Packaging-Girlhood, padded bikinis, PEM, PigTail Pals, Pop-Culture, Rachel Simmons, Sexualization, So Sexy So Soon, The Consumerist, The Fat Trap, thinspiration, thongs, true child, TruthOut, tweens

Deconstructing Gaga: Through the Lens of 100 Youth

March 29, 2010 by Amy Jussel 7 Comments

Mar. 29, 2010 Whether you’re Gaga for Gaga or your emotions run toward dropping the last letter (ahem, cough) there’s no doubt her one billion online video views ascending her from bland to brand have given this top selling recording artist much to celebrate beyond LadyGaga's 24th birthday yesterday. Mea culpa on missing the mark for a full-fledged youth roundup of “lil’ … [Read more...]