Pussycat Dolls

Mattel’s Manipulative Monster High Marketing Machine: Unkind.

June 15, 2012 by Amy Jussel

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...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Misogyny & Racism, Product Placement, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: anti-bullying, Bailey Shoemaker Richards, big media, brandwashed, brandwashing, Bratitude, Brattitude, Bratz, bullying, business ethics, Buyology, CCFC, childrens rights, Clawdeen, corporate accountability, corporate responsibility, crap detection 101, critical thinking, damaging toys, Daughters, Does Monster High Teach kindness?, Dr Jennifer Shewmaker, Emily-Anne Rigal, girls-self-worth, Goodwashing, halo effect, Hasbro, in-school marketing, kids media influence, Kind Campaign, Mattel, mean ghoul, mean girls, media mindfulness, media-literacy, Miss Representation, Monster High Dolls, Monster High's New Low, neuroscience of shopping, objectification, parenting girls, Peggy Orenstein, PigtailPals, preteen-health, preteen-self-esteem, Pro-social product placement, product propaganda, Pussycat Dolls, Sexed Up Toys, Sexualization, sexualized childhood, So Sexy So Soon, SPARK, spark change, spot the spin, targeting tweens, toxic cues to kids, tweens, unhealthy products, WalMart, worst toys

Vamp Tramp Toys: A Monster Problem

March 16, 2011 by Amy Jussel 18 Comments

Mar. 16, 2011 Show and tell time on this Wordless Wednesday. Not going to give them the pleasure of naming names here to add to their search engine buzz, since research has shown that one of mega-marketer's favorite ploys is now baiting parents for "outrage" ...(yes, there are even strategic microsites like "your mom hates this" to serve as catnip for older kids, sigh, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Bratitude, Brattitude, Bratz, CCFC, childrens rights, Clawdeen, Daughters, Girls are not for sale, girls-self-worth, Hasbro, hottie factor, kids media influence, Mattel, media-literacy, Monster High Dolls, objectification, parenting girls, preteen-health, Pussycat Dolls, Raising Girls Amidst Meat Marketing, Sesame Streetwalkers, Sexed Up Toys, Sexualization, sexualized childhood, So Sexy So Soon, SPARK, spark change, toxic cues to kids, tweens, Vogue Cadeaux

Sexualization Summit: Save the Date Oct 22, 2010 NYC

May 17, 2010 by Amy Jussel 22 Comments

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...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Damaging Drek, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Misogyny & Racism, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values, Viral & Buzz Media Tagged With: 10-22-10, 2010, 7 year olds, academic rockstars, adolescence, adults behaving badly, All the Scholar Ladies, APA sexualization study, appearance cues, behavior, beyonce, boy toys, Bratz, children, Consuming kids, corporate pedophilia, Damaging Drek, dancing, dereon divas, desensitized, desire, Dr. Robyn, eating-disorders, emotional health, Empowering girls, harm, HGHW, hostile takeover of childhood, HR4925, Hunter College, hypersexualized, Jean Kilbourne, Kids, kidvid, Killing Us Softly 4, lapdancing, Lyn Mikel-Brown, media influence, mental health, Miley Cyrus, Oct 22, Packaging-Girlhood, PigTail Pals, pole dancing, poptarts, Pornification, preteens, public health policy, Pussycat Dolls, Robyn-Silverman, Sesame Streetwalkers, sexploitation, sexual-health-teens, sexualized childhood, Single Ladies, Susan Linn, Teen Choice Awards, true child, tweens, women's media center, Womens'

“I’m Not A Prude, But…”

October 23, 2009 by Amy Jussel 26 Comments

Oct. 23, 2009 How many times have you heard that preface to a conversation about pop culture lately? Tweens? Teens? Okay, I promised NOT to do a Halloween Horrors bit on girls' costumes and tramp vamp cues (been there, done that) BUT the irony in the timing of this post from Australia titled, "Musical Tarts are Infecting Our Children" that referenced us here at Shaping … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: Amy Winehouse, APA, artist, Australia, boys costumes, celebrities, Celebrity worship, childhood, coarse, commodification, DIY costumes, domestic violence, fatherhood, Fright night, frugal costumes, Girls Costumes, Girls Gone Mild, Green Halloween, Halloween, Homemade Halloween, hypersexual, Kids, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Michael Jackson DIY costume, mind pollution, modest is hottest, Music, objectification, Packaging-Boyhood, Packaging-Girlhood, parenting, Patrick Kennedy, Poker Face, pop music sensation, Pop-Culture, Pussycat Dolls, raunchy, rock and roll, Sesame Streetwalkers, sexuality, Sexualization, Sheeple, slut-ho, So Sexy So Soon, teens, Tipper Gore, Top Costumes 2009, tramp, Twilight, vamp

What About the Boys? ‘Packaging Boyhood’ Authors Respond

October 12, 2009 by Amy Jussel 16 Comments

Oct. 12, 2009 Tomorrow Shaping Youth advisors and authors of Packaging Boyhood launch their sequel book to my favorite media literacy teaching tool on the 'pink think' stereotypes front, Packaging Girlhood. For years I've been asking the 'what about the boys' question in my work, because frankly, boys are getting just as hammered with negative cues about what 'real men' … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Mobile Media, Apps & Gaming, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: Adonis-Complex, aggression, Amp, Amp up before you score, Axe, beer ads, BomChickawahwah, boy toys, boys, boys costumes, boys to men, Buffed-Boys, bullies, dating violence, Gender, Halloween, how to treat women, Jackson Katz, kiddie cologne, Klondike Bars, Lyn Mikel-Brown, males, man cave, manhood, Mark Tappan, masculinity, media-literacy, men, mental health, Packaging-Boyhood, Pepsi, Pepsi Amp, player, Preteen-Boys, Pussycat Dolls, sexism, sexist commercials, sexist iPhone app, Sexuality-Boys, Sharon Lamb, slacker, superhero, thug wannabes, true child, video game violence, videogames, womanizer