Disney XD: A Case Study on Packaging Boyhood

Nov. 3, 2009 In diving into media messages targeting boys for my weekly Tuesday Packaging Boyhood posts, my mind snap went to ‘gaming’ pronto. Is this a stereotype? Or did I just do a Malcolm Gladwell style "Blink” in rapid cognition? I flipped to the Packaging Boyhood chapter on “What Boys Do” since we know marketers are tapping a boy’s desire to be ‘powerful’ and admired … [Read more...]

Flash Animation & Viral KidVid? Give Pause

Nov. 3, 2009 Here's a marketing campaign kids LOVE (me too!) No secret I’m a huge Fido fan…Flash animation? Not so much. It often freezes my Firefox and fouls up the works more often than not on a business site but here in this 'oldie but goodie' ('06-'07ish?) this viral video making the rounds again proves to be pure gold. Give that ad agency a biscuit for its viral … [Read more...]

“Bring Your Baby to Life With Your Wii Remote?”

Nov. 2, 2009 Not sure which part of this creeps me out more, the fact that 21st century baby dolls have a Wiimote crammed up the wazoo to ‘bring the baby to life’ as a Wii system accessory, the passive pink gender cues for girls and total absence of boys as video parenting poppas, or the product picture being a dead-ringer look alike of my own offspring at that age. Ewww all … [Read more...]

Halloween Beyond the Cliché: Packaging Boyhood Part Two

Oct. 7, 2014 Update I realize I've been 'deconstructing' Halloween for years with pushback on the societal sexploitation of girls as we fiercely try to "Take Back Halloween" by mythbusting "market demand"...But the little boys' lens of how some of the girls costumes land on them is one to watch too, instilling critical thinking early on...in this case, two posts by SheKnows.com … [Read more...]

Why 350.org? Fun Edu/Eco Activism Today For Int’l Climate Chg!

Oct. 24, 2009 Kids love "dress up" and DOING things, so today’s the day to blend the two into global fun to seed ‘one world’ thinking with 350.0rg early on, joining 181 countries for the most widespread day of environmental action in history! (CNN World coverage) Find a local event near you (ck out the global 350 map!) or create one yourself by snapping some 350 group … [Read more...]