Hawking Hydration Low: Gatorade Tells Kids To Avoid Water

Aug. 20, 2015 Update: Now Gatorade's G-Force is forcing their bottled neon into schools under the guise of 'hydration education?' Seriously? Paging media watchdogs! Crickets. Jan. 10, 2014 I’ve written a lot about the heavy marketing of sugary/salty sports drinks over water for hydration, and this post about “kidney stones in kindergarten” serves as a public health reminder … [Read more...]

Stop Texting While Driving: Will People Learn To Steer Clear?

Feb. 4, 2015 Update! Tomorrow on Blog Talk Radio, impaired survivor of texting and driving Liz Marks shares her truth in a powerful show to get teens to LISTEN about putting down the phone. Lauren Galley of Girls Above Society hosts, with special guest and Shaping Youth ally Diana Graber of Cyberwise.org. Important topic that impacts us all. I plan on tuning in with my teen and … [Read more...]

Grab-n-Go Squeezable Pouch Foods: Ease or Eww?

Oct. 16, 2015 Update: Heads up on the voluntary recall of GoGoSqueez pouches with these summer 2016 pull dates, which have had mold discovered in them. I first found the mold in our own stash in the garage when my volleyball crew gave me a wince-worthy 'eww' but I couldn't find any damage to the packaging and it seemed random, since I tried one myself, so I hadn't tossed … [Read more...]

FTC Food Marketing to Kids Update: Are Watchdogs All Bark No Bite?

Sept. 9, 2010 Where are we now with the whole junk food marketing to kids/obesity prevention discussion? Feels like we’ve been TALKING about "candy bars for breakfast" and citing Pink Princess Fairytale Flakes with ads for sugary slop on TV out the wazoo, along with advergaming (embedded digital trolling, seeding unhealthy junk food) and yet “the more things change, the more … [Read more...]

FCC Comment Extension On Kids Product Placement ‘til Nov. 17!

Your turn to sound off if you’d like to join me (and 173 other orgs and commenters at last count) to reinforce the notion that embedded advertising (product placement) does not belong in young children’s programming. Shaping Youth was one of the initial 23 orgs onboard this coalition addressing the FCC, which I've written about exhaustively many a … [Read more...]