Dec. 8, 2009 It’s Tuesday, time for our weekly “Packaging Boyhood” focus, so what better time than the holiday season to sound the 'red' siren on the 'green' brand that tween and teen boys are sucking up to...Monster energy drink. With everything from motocross and macho madness to the thumping, screaming, ‘over the top’ rebel yell, Monster ‘packs a vicious punch’ by … [Read more...]
Turning Boys Into Monsters: Energy Drink Leaves A Foul Taste (Again)
Gossip Girl November Sweeps Schtick Predictably Trashy
Nov. 10, 2009 No, I didn’t watch the heavily promoted Gossip Girl ‘threesome’ shock schlock last night that sent the Parents Television Council rightfully into a tizzy, but frankly I didn’t need to, as the whole ‘provocative’ ploy is summed in two words, “sweeps week.” The vapid values trotted out in the ‘skankwear’ with stilettos crowd is pretty par for the course on the … [Read more...]
“I’m Not A Prude, But…”
Oct. 23, 2009 How many times have you heard that preface to a conversation about pop culture lately? Tweens? Teens? Okay, I promised NOT to do a Halloween Horrors bit on girls' costumes and tramp vamp cues (been there, done that) BUT the irony in the timing of this post from Australia titled, "Musical Tarts are Infecting Our Children" that referenced us here at Shaping … [Read more...]
Attention KMart Shoppers: Dating Violence on Aisle3
Oct. 11, 2009 This morning I was in a Sunday reflective sprawl, dogs piled atop the bed, newspaper everywhere, family away, foggy S.F. Bay keeping me nuzzled into my comforter, when I checked in on my laptop and almost spewed my coffee seeing this shirt. Our Shaping Youth advisors at Packaging Boyhood.com are launching their new book in 48 hours on saving our sons from … [Read more...]
FCC Chair Receives Our Coalition Letter on Product Placement
Sept. 24, 2009 Shaping Youth is part of this coalition (15pp pdf here) joining over 50 signatories on "FCC Docket 08-90." As a nonpartisan, non-censorship, nonprofit recall I support two key coalitions impacting children, the other being eco-literacy, NCLI. You can get a glimpse of my reasoning here, but I'll focus fully on "'why this is important" deconstructing the … [Read more...]