Sept. 24, 2009 S.F. Bay Area readers, reminder Rachel Simmons is speaking TONIGHT for free at Palo Alto's Gunn High School (details here) about her new book The Curse of the Good Girl (living proof of same right here with yours truly, heh) I interviewed Rachel Simmons about what all has transpired in media and marketing since her decade of research on relational … [Read more...]
Rachel Simmons Tonight at GunnHS, Palo Alto!
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...]
Fun in the Forest Earns Dizzywood Online A NAPPA Gold Award!
Sept. 23, 2009 Ah, the first day of fall... An apt time to think about leaves, forests, colorful worlds and transitions into autumn when kids spend more time indoors and parents start hand-wringing about media management, homework hazards and how to balance back to school commitments with screen time online. The National Parenting Publications Awards has bestowed their … [Read more...]
Using Digital Hide & Seek To Get Kids Outside: A Treasure Trove of Ideas
Sept. 17, 2009 “Childhood obesity may be a problem of epidemic proportions in many parts of the world, but several games are doing their part to help keep kids moving. We've already covered LocoMatrix, Swinxs and The Hidden Park, and now a new contender launched last month takes kids on a wifi-based treasure hunt outside,” says Springwise (one of my fave industry resources for … [Read more...]
Should Kids’ Cartoons Sell Fruit & Veggies? Brandwashing Revisited
Sept. 16, 2009 Erma Bombeck once said, “My children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t danced on TV.” Quick! Mind snap: Did you blink to California Raisins boogieing to “Heard it Through the Grapevine?” If so, you’ve been ‘brandwashed’ by that award-winning iconic campaign from FCB so long ago… Next week on Sept. 21, two familiar icons and two slogans will be voted into … [Read more...]