Jean Kilbourne Enters 2015 Women’s Hall of Fame (Pt 1)

Oct. 2, 2015 Long before self-proclaimed experts flooded social media with newly minted personas and punditry, women like filmmaker Jean Kilbourne spent decades of devotion upending toxic media … [Read more...]

Disney’s Citizen Kid: November Media Thankfulness

Nov. 4, 2014 Disney's Citizen Kid Kicks off our Media/Marketing Month of ThankfulnessI love the concept of media shining the spotlight on extraordinary kids doing prosocial things, whether it’s … [Read more...]

Dot Complicated: Holiday Media Management

Nov. 19, 2013 Ditch the tantalizing Instagram food shots and showy status updates. Halt turkey tweeting. Spare the live streaming of the family fest. MAYbe use the Pinterest prep cheat sheets if you … [Read more...]

Family Diversity In Books: A Child’s View of DOMA

Update: June 26, 2015It's official. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 in favor of marriage equality (see Justice Kennedy's closing paragraph summation which poignantly concludes, "it is so … [Read more...]

Year Round Media That Matters: Positive Picks for Kids

Nov. 26, 2012 With all the coinage and consumption swirling around Black Friday and Cyber Monday for people hunting “deals” I think it’s fitting to honor the organizations that deliver positive media … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

Graduation, Prom, Pressure, Stress? Keeping Up With The Joneses

June 1, 2012 Personally, I don’t think 8th grade and ‘cocktail dress’ should be uttered in the same sentence, but alas, there are entire websites ratcheting up the ‘kids getting older younger’ (KGOY) … [Read more...]

Prom Spending Surges? Media Panics, Hype & Critical Thinking

May 15, 2015 Update! Great then/now retrospective in the New York Times that spans proms over 60 years, all the way up to current "promposal" shenanigans, spending surges and social media selfies! … [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 … [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 … [Read more...]

Lego Friends: Please Build on Possibility, Brain Plasticity

April 28, 2016 "37 year old son of Lego billionaire takes the helm as Vice Chairman" Congrats, Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, now that you've inherited the Lego legacy, and named your daughter and five … [Read more...]

Dear Media: Please Change Your Channel of Influence

Sept 12, 2011 After the ludicrous JCPenney toxic tee-shirt with a wink and nod to academic underachievement "I'm Too Pretty For Math, So My Brother Has To Do It For Me" and the fabulous rapid-reply … [Read more...]

Using Media With Mindfulness

Update Jan. 14, 2016 Fame focus...don't bite the hook! Adding this excellent post by Ryan Holiday of the NY Observer calling out the recent Rolling Stone ratings raunch along with a slough of … [Read more...]