Pink Dreams. The name alone has head-spinning implications. Thoughts whiplash from bubblegum-n-Barbie to provocative porn, depending on your age, gender, and mindset. When I saw the ad, “Pink Dreams Sold Here” it stopped me cold. The white-thigh high knee-sock-pony-tail-platform-shoe wearing blonde was posed in a bare-bellied pink plaid school girl-stance, holding a pink … [Read more...]
Normally I’d toss this American Idol-KFC "Buffalo Snacker" blurb in the ‘who cares’ hype hamper to keep from giving KFC more PR buzz, but frankly, this whole ‘hidden message’ ad trend has me tweaked. Aside from the toxicity of targeting kids with MORE KFC transfat-laden junk food on the season premiere of the über-popular reality show … [Read more...]
“Come in, my little pretties,” lured the witch in Hansel & Gretel, as the door banged shut behind the wee ones. Today’s brand marketers and media mavens aren’t exactly summoning kids into an icing laced gumdrop gingerbread house, but it’s pretty dang close on a few media and marketing fronts. There’s enough subversive enticement to … [Read more...]
I left my ‘round-up’ ritual back in my editorial magazine days but my au courant colleagues and content partners have worthy ones so I’ll defer to their musings. Ypulse publisher, Anastasia Goodstein posted “Reflections on the year in youth culture” which gets my vote for the most articulate wrap up of four key trends: The ‘totally … [Read more...]
Yesterday it was painful to watch holiday shoppers in the media aisle at Costco randomly buying items based on marketing over merit. People were tossing media and toys in their cart based on wow-pow colorful packaging, "why to buy" snipes, and brand recognition with little regard for what was inside. The folks at Truce (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s … [Read more...]
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