KFC’s “Assvertising”–A Double Down of Unhealthy Cues

September 22, 2010 Would you like a sideorder of sexualization with that heart attack? If the excess sodium from KFC’s Double Down innuendo-laden sat fat monstrosity doesn’t raise your risk factor for high blood pressure, ergo cardiovascular disease, heart failure, kidney disease, and stroke, then the college co-eds selling their buns for the bunless will surely jolt and … [Read more...]

Sexualization Summit: Save the Date Oct 22, 2010 NYC

May 17, 2010 As irony would have it, on Thurs, May 13, in New York City, a small tribe of thought leaders convened on how to best address rampant sexualization of youth in media and marketing. Each invitee of this diverse group was hand-selected for the purpose of "bringing their entire communities" into the conversation and sharing next steps, best practices, and public … [Read more...]

So Sexy So Soon: Shaping Youth Chats With Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D.

August 17, 2009 Last month So Sexy So Soon hit the market in paperback, though my hand-signed hardback by academic rockstars Diane Levin, Ph.D. and Jean Kilbourne Ed.D is frayed, highlighted, and worn from full use with youth and parent ed groups ever since its release last year. I broke bread with these two research pioneers at Susan Linn’s house when she hosted all of the … [Read more...]

Shaping Youth Is In the L.A. Times Today, Yawn

August 12, 2009 Well, it finally happened. Full tilt desensitization. I suppressed a huge yawn and a roll of the eyes reviewing Miley’s pole dancing antics at the Teen Choice Awards with a great big ‘meh, here we go again.’ All of the replays of video and trending topics in the Twittersphere landed on me as a great big cynical 'so what' example of the mouse house … [Read more...]

Counterstrike: MEF Film “The Price of Pleasure” Screens For Free

April 9, 2009 Even though K-12 youth is Shaping Youth's primary focus, this campus controversy caught my eye for the overlap with our own counter-marketing tactics. In a ‘fight fire with fire’ media literacy move straight out of the Shaping Youth playbook, the Media Education Foundation is responding to this week’s University of Maryland campus uproar of whether or not free … [Read more...]