Food For Thought: Media to Digest for Healthier Kids

March is National Nutrition Month, so Shaping Youth is adding to the ADA's Eat Right web resources with some fun and worthy positive picks in food media to share with your kids, boost their media literacy IQ, and counter-market the cartoon pitches for empty calorie crud. Here goes: I've always loved the SmartMouth interactive site for kids, but my new discovery is the U.K.'s … [Read more...]

Pink Princess Fairytale Flakes; Candy Bars For Breakfast

I’m not sure which tweaks me more, junk food glop dyed pink in stereotyped splendor, “berry” cereals that have nothing remotely resembling fruit, or confusing callouts, (vitamin-D, calcium, lightly sweetened) that make people believe this crud is actually consumable, as a ‘healthy’ start to your day. Leave it to General Mills to have all three apply in the newly launched … [Read more...]

Counter-marketing Junk Food With Rats & Tacos

Update 2013: Since Taco Bell is lowering the ethics bar to diss healthy veggies in favor of their chem cuisine in the latest Feb 3, 2013 Superbowl ad, I figured I'd drag out my 2007 counter-marketing with rats and tacos 'ewww' moments...Think it's unfair to counter-market with 'ewww' tactics? I'd say it's unfair to hammer high-risk, low-income kids 24/7 with this toxic crud, … [Read more...]

Positive Coaching Alliance Offers Media Tips & Life Lessons

Last week MSNBC editorialized on the essential factors of a classic sports movie: “Feature Underdog(s), Stick it to the Man, Make Men Cry, Provide Memorable Quotes, and Inspire Real Athletes.” Writer Bob Cook lists his favorite top ten films, and in scanning them I realized every single sports movie had a life lesson, feel-good premise, or positive message for kids! Since … [Read more...]

Eat Like An Ape: The Media Circus at Work

Here’s a reality show pitch for ya… What if we feature the BBC television ‘Eat like an Ape’ experiment that caged humans in the zoo to lower blood pressure and cholesterol by eating fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey for 12-days on American mainstream TV? Now, what if we unlocked the opportunity for high-risk kids to voluntarily become 'test … [Read more...]