July 22, 2019 As a former ad agency creative director, when I saw a bunch of Muppets trash-talking the Juul brand for an e-cigs PSA pitch I quickly went into “what the bleep” mode wondering how the branding could be so off the mark. I’m a huge fan of the former Truth Initiative campaign that used a ‘lift and reveal’ tonality of covert, corrupt tactics spotlighting the … [Read more...]
June 19, 2019 As an ad industry creative director I’ve spent years using applied science to flip messages in healthier directions by tapping into the same tactics that marketers use to hook their audiences early and often. (Here’s how I use marketing tactics to sell 'reluctant readers' on reading for fun, or getting kids to 'eat green' by using Shrek against junk food drek … [Read more...]
June 12, 2019 Most of us remember the classic School House Rock, “I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill…” but maybe we need a new version that talks about how a bill is killed with a thousand paper cuts painfully sliced into vapid, ineffective nothingness by industry goodwashing yet still SOUNDS like a reasonable regulatory response? Such … [Read more...]
June 4, 2019 As “wear orange” events pop up around the nation this weekend to protest gun violence, and students march in solidarity demanding action from impotent lawmakers tethered to gun lobbyists, I can’t help but feel their pain, anguish, and stressed out psychological depletion from being placed in schools with absurdly misguided and often breathtakingly realistic … [Read more...]
Nov. 24, 2009 As fall weather kicks in and families hunker indoors to ‘more screen time’ than summer time norms, I hear tales of media management missteps that would spin heads faster than a Linda Blair Exorcist antic. (yes I know it’s almost Thanksgiving, but I’m still seguing from Halloween here…) I hear parents say things like “Oh, my kids play games sometimes, but we … [Read more...]
    |
@ShapingYouth.bsky.social
—social media as it should be
 | ShapingYouth is offered under a Creative Commons “Attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives” license. (Details) |