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.
Thanks to Lisa, over at Corporate Babysitter for these two gross posts that have my anti-childhood commercialism mind reeling. ARGH.
First, commenting on Shrek’s outrageous full throttle marketing blitz and near complete ownership of the Macy’s Day Parade, she goes exploring at amazon and finds: 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!
Well, we had the big meeting yesterday and it went fairly well. Because the teachers in the preschool have Master’s degrees in child development or education and the director has an EDD, I made the mistake of going in ready to talk about solutions/alternatives, but presumed I didn’t really need to “teach” why this is a problem. In fact, I specifically avoided professor mode, since I only study media – they are the experts on Read the complete Post.
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.
Okey doke. I had been thinking about how infrequently I mention Thing 2 on this blog and how you probably all think I am a neglectful, uncaring mother incapable of loving her baby. So, I was going to post a little memo about how much I adore him (I do, I do, I do - it’s SICK how much I love that baby) and all his adorable quirks (he has a intense hair fetish and likes to pull my eyelashes while we snuggle), and how I am actually very focused on him for a number of reasons (e.g., not the least of which is that he has “THE 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.
Advertisers generally respond to critiques of marketing to kids by calling it an issue of parental responsibility. If you don’t want your kids to see advertising, just don’t let them watch TV. Simple as that.
I’ve tried it — it helps a lot. Thing 1 has never seen commercial television, and I also work hard to keep her out of shopping environments (sometimes with comic outcomes…). I have also tried to have playdates at parks and playgrounds or museums or sporting events instead of at other kids’ homes where the world of Disney, Bratz, etc. may reign supreme.
Well, Friday, Thing 1 had her first playdate at a friends’ home. Janie is 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.