Marketing Shaping Youth

Bratzillaz, Novi Stars, Monster High: Same Sexualized SnoreFest

July 12, 2012 by Amy Jussel

Update April 7, 2015 Toy Joy! New offerings upending the toy industry to send healthier cues to kids: Lottie Dolls, GoGoSportsGirls, and now this new Kickstarter, Ember World adventure dolls, highlighted in this post. July 12, 2012 It's ironic that with over 900 cable networks choice is sorely lacking, as copycat formulaic media producers churn out new Reality TV genres … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Misogyny & Racism, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: APA report early sexualization, Barbie, Be Bratz, big 6 media companies, Brattitude, Bratz, Bratzillaz, canted poses, Celebrity worship, coarse culture, cult of celebrity, Dr Jennifer Shewmaker, Etsy, girls self esteem, girls sports, girls-self-worth, Go Go Sports Girls, harm of early sexualization, illusion of choice, indie toys, Jodi Norgaard, lack of toy choice, Lego Friends, Little Bits, maker faire, Mattel, Mattel Monster High, MGA, MGA Entertainment, MGAE, Monster High, Monster High sexualization, Novi Stars, PigTail Pals, Pop-Culture, preteen-health, Reality TV, roominate, ScrapKins, sexist toys, sexualized dolls, Super Tool Lula, top 10 toy manufacturers, vamp tramp toys, who controls the media

Julia Bluhm’s Plea To Curb PhotoShop Sparks Change at Seventeen Mag

July 8, 2012 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

July 8, 2012 No secret the 'world according to teen magazines' is abysmal for girls, and we've seen mega-stats, studies and fact sheets about the impact on tweens and teens, (KFF pdf here) but as the adage goes... "People don't change when they see the light; they change when they feel the heat." We can thank 14-year old Julia Bluhm for sparking that bonfire. In the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Counter-marketing, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Nutrition & Wellness, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: adolescent body image, Ann Shoket, beauty myth, body ideals, Body Peace Treaty, Change.org, do no harm, Early-Sexualization, girls self esteem, girls-self-worth, Julia Bluhm, Keep It Real, media impact on girls, Media-Kids, media-literacy, mental health, Miss Representation, National Eating Disorder Awareness, NEDA, Photoshop models, photoshopping body image, preteen-health, preteen-self-esteem, Seventeen Magazine, socioemotional health, SPARK, spark change, Take Back Beauty, teen depression, teen magazines, Teen Vogue petition, teens-media, thinspiration, visual literacy

Trekaroo iPhone App: Kid-Friendly Travel Spots On The Fly

June 29, 2012 by Amy Jussel 3 Comments

June 29, 2012 Anyone with small children knows parents need to pack a lot of patience for pit-stops and play time when it comes to logistics of summer travel, but now “there’s an app for that” to make it a snap. Trekaroo, the travel review site written by families themselves has just launched their free iPhone app that taps into kid-friendly spots along most any vacation … [Read more...]

Filed Under: EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, Shaping Youth Tagged With: camping and outdoors, children and nature network, day trips, daytripping, family fun, Family travel, family vacation, Free iphone apps, Freebie-Finds-Kids, get outside, iphone apps, kid-friendly travel, kids trips tips, Kids-Nature, local attractions, NCLI, on the go travel with kids, outdoor adventure, Outdoor Education, parenting reviews, play, playgrounds and playspaces, rate and review kids travel spots, road trips, travel reviews, travel tips, travel with kids, Trekaroo, Trekking, vacation travel with kids

Mattel’s Manipulative Monster High Marketing Machine: Unkind.

June 15, 2012 by Amy Jussel

June 15, 2012 Last year when I wrote about Mattel’s vampy campy Monster High dolls I purposely didn’t even name their brand, hoping it would quietly fizzle and bury itself in the outcry of parents tired of sexploitation, sassy, rude, mean behavioral cues sent to kids, blatant consumerism and vapid values.When Mattel tried to backpedal from the toxic messages in their webisodes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Misogyny & Racism, Product Placement, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: anti-bullying, Bailey Shoemaker Richards, big media, brandwashed, brandwashing, Bratitude, Brattitude, Bratz, bullying, business ethics, Buyology, CCFC, childrens rights, Clawdeen, corporate accountability, corporate responsibility, crap detection 101, critical thinking, damaging toys, Daughters, Does Monster High Teach kindness?, Dr Jennifer Shewmaker, Emily-Anne Rigal, girls-self-worth, Goodwashing, halo effect, Hasbro, in-school marketing, kids media influence, Kind Campaign, Mattel, mean ghoul, mean girls, media mindfulness, media-literacy, Miss Representation, Monster High Dolls, Monster High's New Low, neuroscience of shopping, objectification, parenting girls, Peggy Orenstein, PigtailPals, preteen-health, preteen-self-esteem, Pro-social product placement, product propaganda, Pussycat Dolls, Sexed Up Toys, Sexualization, sexualized childhood, So Sexy So Soon, SPARK, spark change, spot the spin, targeting tweens, toxic cues to kids, tweens, unhealthy products, WalMart, worst toys

Sexism in Video Games: Tropes, Trolls and Terrific Upstanders

June 13, 2012 by Amy Jussel 4 Comments

Update YET AGAIN: Oct. 15, 2014 Reprising Anita Sarkeesian's important words, "The most radical thing you can do to support women online" given the cancellation of her Utah State University event slated for today due to "massacre shooting" terrorist threats impacting public safety at the school. Sheroes won't be silenced, and the upstanders and journalists helping explain with … [Read more...]