Marketing, Media and Childhood
Investigations at the intersection of marketing, media and childhood
The big news this week: Disney makeover of the brave and tough Merida into sexy vamp provokes outrage, and Disney dials it back. She loses the archery gear, and now she's got a sparkly, off the shoulder dress, a curvier body, and perfect, sexy … [Read more...]
PD, 14 years old, pulled a box of Rice Krispies off the shelf and put it into our shopping cart. I glimpsed the cartoon characters and was just thinking about objecting, when he said, “You would think these would have a lot of sugar” – because … [Read more...]
I spent last weekend at a conference full of energetic and committed people working to protect children from corporate marketing practices that harm children’s health and well-being for profit. It was the 8th international Consuming Kids Summit … [Read more...]
A special treat today. Works of art, one a poem and one a mixed-media drawing/collage, that draw inspiration from a sense that children are unfairly targeted by marketers in our society. This is a work by Massachusetts mixed-media artist Edward … [Read more...]
Did you see the Budweiser ad during the SuperBowl that featured a heartwarming story about a horse who remembered the many who helped to raise and train it? It was a touching story. See if you can recognize the persuasive technique, via the Media … [Read more...]
It’s the TOADY. I do enjoy this annual contest, to select the worst toy of the year, as a counterpoint to the Toy of the Year award – the TOTY – which is sponsored by the toy industry. Sometimes the choices in both contests are strikingly … [Read more...]
This is the first of a two part series on smoking, media and youth. Part II here. I finally slogged through the 2012 Surgeon Generals’ report, “Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults” section on tobacco industry … [Read more...]
I took a stroll through the toy aisles of a major retailer with my camera. The aisles with toys for girls are conveniently color coded with pink. The boys' aisles are blue, of course. This helps you find the correct and proper toy for your children. … [Read more...]
For today, media messages to children that parents should be aware of:Shaping Youth: Boys, Body Image and Sexualization: An Equal Opportunity Destroyer Shaping Youth photoChristian Science Monitor: Disney bans junk-food ads, but seeks to … [Read more...]
The Lego Friends maelstrom continues. Here's an update. These two videos thoroughly deconstruct gender stereotyping in Lego marketing:Feminist FrequencyIn part 1 of my two part LEGO and Gender series, I’ll explore how LEGO went terribly wrong with … [Read more...]
