Mattel’s Manipulative Monster High Marketing Machine: Unkind.

June 15, 2012 Last year when I wrote about Mattel’s vampy campy Monster High dolls I purposely didn’t even name their brand, hoping it would quietly fizzle and bury itself in the outcry of parents tired of sexploitation, sassy, rude, mean behavioral cues sent to kids, blatant consumerism and vapid values.When Mattel tried to backpedal from the toxic messages in their webisodes … [Read more...]

Miss Travel: Misrepresentation Way Beyond Arm Candy

April 26, 2012 “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck”… It doesn’t take much inductive reasoning to see Miss Travel is afoul. That said, using critical thinking skills to see why this new ‘dating site’ offering ‘free travel for attractive people’ (ahem, cough, prosti-travel) doesn’t pass the sniff test is a useful mini-lesson. Miss Travel is a teachable … [Read more...]

How Will YOU Use Media to Inspire On International Women’s Day?

April 23, 2020: Updating with Visual Credit for gorgeous artwork at left and below ("Dive into your dreams" and "Listen to Girls") created by Dr. Alison Aune BFA, Professor of Art Education at University of Minnesota, Duluth... March 8, 2012 It's International Women’s Day... As I struggled to post Part Two on solutions-building to combat toxic messages being sent to women … [Read more...]

Miss Representation Sparks Change As a Film, As a Movement

Ready for Feb 3, 2013? Miss Rep will be at it again. Here is the new list of 2013 Twitter handles for advertisers, just use the #NotBuyingIt hashtag on Twitter to make a social media statement and pushback against sexism in advertising. And this year, 2013, they have a free TOOLKIT to download created with Girls For A Change, complete with whys/hows for newbie … [Read more...]

The Supermodels, Then and Now + A Chat With Janet Lansbury

Feb. 1, 2012 “25% of young women 18-34 would rather win America’s Next Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize..." ..."And 23% would rather lose their ability to read than their figures” opens Lisa Bloom’s THINK: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World... I’ll be interviewing author Lisa Bloom of THINK  later this month asking her about 'the other … [Read more...]