God, how self-absorbed can I be? (very.)
My concerns with the commercialization of childhood have to do with the damage done to kids by socializing them to be not only consumers, but consumerist, to define themselves and others by what the clothes they wear, the cache of their cell phone, the bag they carry, the gaming system they have, the sneakers they own, and/or their MP3 player, Read the complete Post.
The wonderful Lisa Ray, formerly Two Knives, has done something amazing. She has taken what emerged as a parental concern / important political issue for her and taken it beyond the blog! Lisa has founded a new organization, Parents for Ethical Marketing, where those of us concerned with such issues can turn for information and for guidance on how to best take action outside of bloggy land. I am in awe. The site looks incredible and is packed full of great information. Now, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood and Commercial Alert do not have to bear this burden alone. Lisa is interested in creating a forum that will spotlight the unethical behvior of corporations attempting to reach children. A little bad PR can do wonders, she hopes. Me too!
But, fear not — bloggy land will still benefit from Lisa’s incisive critique and watchful eye, as PEM has a blog, delightfully named, Corporate Babysitter. Be sure to check it out.
Thanks Lisa!
In preparation for my upcoming meeting with Thing 1’s preschool about Scholastic, I started sniffing out additional information. I couldn’t find nearly as much as I would like on preschool commercialism, but then I was magically referred to Rebekah Cohen and voila, paydirt! Cohen has a Master’s in Child Development from Tufts University (where she specialized in children and media) and formerly worked as a research assistant with Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. Her Master’s research focused on (drumroll) commercialism in preschools. She now lives and works in San Francisco. Cohen was gracious enough to let me interview her a few days ago. Her insights follow:
So, okay, tell us, how bad is commercialism in preschool? Read the complete Post.
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is having their annual summit in Boston in April.
The topic is sexualization of children(read as BRATZ et al - that image above is of Bratz Babyz, btw - I know my dd always wore a LOT of liquid eyeliner when she was part of the under 1 set.) Read the complete Post.
Hmmm. I am summoning the powers of teh internets to help me strategize.
My daughter goes to a wonderful, wonderful preschool that impresses me every day. The profoundly qualified and committed teachers, the curriculum, the director, the families - it’s a place that I feel great about. Not only do they provide a rich setting and ample resources for social and intellectual development, they are also very progressive and deal brilliantly with issues of diversity - racial and ethnic, class, gender, ability, family structure etc etc.
The only complaint I have is that they currently Read the complete Post.
Okay, so I need to get to work, but sometimes you have moments, you know?
I get Blender magazine. Not maybe what you’d expect, but people are funny. At any rate, this was the cover photo that I found on my doorstep today:
In case you do other things with your leisure time, that’s the former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls (and also former member of “Eden’s Crush” — remember them?) who is now releasing her solo album. At any rate, I grabbed it just as Thing 1 said, what was on that “maz-a-geen”? I said - nothing - just a picture that was pretty inappropriate. “I saw it” she giggles. Most of the time the cover is fine, but I’m pissed at Blender, and at myself.
I distracted her with a different piece of mail – from her younger cousin — she opened it - it was a thank you card. This thank you card to be specific: Read the complete Post.
Dove’s newest viral video “film,” Onslaught is making the rounds. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s certainly well worth the 1 minute and 15 second time investment. Check it out here.
But, poor Onslaught is getting shredded by the feminist blogosphere, and yesterday even some of my very, very faves like Jill over at Feministe and Two Knives… had at it — both making extremely good Read the complete Post.
Mini-post? Why a mini-post? Because I should NOT be doing this at work when I am supposed to be finishing my chapter draft. If dh busts me, I’ll never hear the end of it…
BUT! I have to share this gem from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC) website:
Congressmen Tackle Product Placement
By Ira Teinowitz
TV Week
9/27/07
Warning that increasing use of product placement and product integration are “blurring” the line between TV ads and TV content, two congressional committee chairmen are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to
Read the complete Post.
I don’t know about you, but when I was in middle school we called it two-faced. Can Mattel really claim to its customers here in the US that they were unaware that lead paint was being used because the production was outsourced (which also conveniently keeps them “unaware” that their toys are being assembled by 11 year olds. Mmmmm, nothing like an order of toxic fumes with a side of berating for breakfast, dee-licious!) in one breath and then in the next apologize to China for making Chinese manufacturers look bad when the “real” problem was their “design flaw”? Read the complete Post.
Old Navy had this to say about the post on July 31 (see posting below). Since they value customer feedback so much, I thought I would post the customer service email, in case anyone else would like to be “an important part of the process.” If you would like to complain share your thoughts as I did, feel free to email them at custserv@oldnavy.com
Thank you for your e-mail regarding our current collection of Old Navy
styles for our Boys and Girls departments. We always want to know how
Read the complete Post.