Slimy Santa Innuendo Gets The Heave-Ho-Ho-Ho…

Ho. Used to be a trio of chuckles from jolly ol’ Saint Nick, or the classic 'heave-ho' given to moldly expired fridge food… Lately, between hip-hop lyrics, MTV2 misogyny and Don Imus’ media gaffes we wrote about here, the term's shifted to a noun form, and not even ol' Santa escapes the senseless drek. This latest BuzzFeed won't make your days merry and … [Read more...]

Hiding Kids’ Veggies for Stealth Health: Good Idea?

Recipe for media firepower: Blend Seinfeld spousal celebrity, add a dash of Oprah media hype, stir in some star scandal, cute kids and a solid nutritional cause, and rocket to the top tier of the New York Times Bestseller list before you can say zucchini. Shaping Youth is always trying to find new ways to get kids to eat greens, live green and curb the cues to spend green, … [Read more...]

Texting for Toy Safety: ‘Moms Rising’ Taps Into ‘HealthyToys’

Mobile moms will love this handy new alliance between consumer action orgs HealthyToys & MomsRising which lets you find out whether the toy you’re about to plop in that cart is toxic for your tot...Excellent use of new media technology to create a value-add for toy consumers, as this 2-min. CNN video on the issue reveals.Here's how it works: Text healthytoys [toy name] to … [Read more...]

Shaping Youth Through Philanthropic Fun

Update: 2013 Along these lines, check out StartEmpathy.org with clever little videos by "Empathy Explorer" Ed Stockham; a visual media depiction of our peer to peer "in her shoes" exercise in this 2007 post below. My media ‘avatar’ is more Murphy Brown than Mother Teresa, so I need to redirect those of you who envision me as idyllically sealing organic preserves, leading the … [Read more...]

The Big Give: Kiva, Oprah, & the Reality TV Juggernaut

“If reality television is indeed here to stay, its evolution into philanthropic programming is, for this viewer, a welcome one,” writes Kate Golden, E.D./Editorial Chief of Changing Our World in this prescient newsletter, “onPhilanthropy.” Ditto that...In triplicate. But where IS Oprah’s “Big Give?” I've been waiting for a year … [Read more...]