May 7, 2009 See this smiling face? Meet my goddaughter, Lara, who recently turned 12. We gifted her an Elf Island 'virtual world' membership for 'premium content' as part of her B-Day celebration. Why? 1.) It was one of the few things I KNEW she didn't have (living afar and gift-guessing is dicey) 2.) She's a VERY social only child who loves to chat and make new friends 3.) … [Read more...]
Consider This: Virtual Worlds In Institutional Settings
Filed Under: Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Shaping Youth Tagged With: AAP, ad free, ad-creep, arcade games, blurred boundaries, brand influence, branding, CCFC, commercialism, commercialism in hospitals, commercialism in schools, consumption, Critical-thinking-skills, Disney, doing good, Dora the Explorer, Eco-Childs-Play, Electronic Pacifier, Elf-Island, entertainment industry, follow the money, gaming, gaming addiction, Georgia, GoodQuests, Great Turtle Race, hospital influence, hospitals, Immersive Worlds, infant formula, institutional precedent, institutions, licensed cartoon characters, Liz and Craig Kronenberger, media-literacy, medical marketing, Nationwide Children's Hospital, NCH, OLPC, pediatrics, plant trees, Premium Content, pro-social, schools, subscriber model, video games, Virtual-Worlds, VMK, VW, Wyland
In Bed With Branding: Virtual Worlds Pair With Children’s Hospitals
May 3, 2009 What's with all the children's hospitals partnering and news-making so much as of late? This spring, “Operation Teen Book Drop” gave bed bound kids across the country over 8000 titles from young adult book publishers to support Teen Literature Day, sponsored by YALSA, readergirlz, and GuysLitWire. A tad earlier, Dell Children’s Medical Center in Texas became … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Product Placement, Shaping Youth, Viral & Buzz Media Tagged With: ad-creep, brand influence, cancer care, climate change, commercialism, consumption, Dell Children's Medical Center, Digital ethics, Dizzywood, doing good, Elf-Island, gaming for good, gifting, GoodQuests, GuysLitWire, healing, hospitals, illness, institutions, Kirsten Arpajian, Liz Kronenberger, Mirrored Gaming, Nationwide Children's Hospital, NCH, new media, operation teen book drop, patients, PBI, planting real trees, positive screen time, Presto, pro-social, Quests for Change, readergirlz, real hope in a virtual world, recovery, sick kids, strategic partnership, therapeutic benefit, transplants, Virtual-Worlds, WildAid, YALSA