Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

July 21, 2010 Can you hear the drumbeat, Hollywood? It’s getting louder.

Girl advocates like Jessica Lawrence head to Capitol Hill to discuss H.R. 4925 tomorrow to share firsthand data about how depictions of women and girls in the media affect youth health and are landing sideways.

Small business entities like Melissa Wardy of  Wisconsin based PigtailPals has devoted an entire product line to “Redefining Girly” hoping to accentuate a fresh, girl-positive reality for our children. (WI is legislative home-state for HR 4925)

Today we’ll hear from both of these advocates for girls in part two of our Healthy Media Youth Act coverage, asking some tough questions about whether this bipartisan legislation has sharp teeth to be actionable and chomp down on worst offenders profiting on the backsides of kids, or whether it’s more of a nibble, nosh and nudge to stop devouring childhood and raise awareness for consumer action. (more…)

July 12-16, 2010: Healthy Media for Youth week!

Fed up with “boy chasin’ bed swappin’ lip-lickin’ hottie-hoochie booty-bouncin’ appearance-is-everything” cues comin’ at your girls?

Yah, so are we. It’s damaging, destructive, and fouling up a healthy sense of sexuality and self-worth as girls are objectified and ‘sold’ a bill of goods about behaviors, bodies, and what society values with a narrowcasted fixation that’s head-spinningly unhealthy.

This week, HR 4925 is coming to the forefront of the national dialog to raise awareness for a three-pronged approach to healthier media messages about girls and women via a legislative bill that:

a.)    creates competitive grant programs that encourage media literacy and youth empowerment

b.)    facilitates research on depiction of females in media and the affect on youth

c.)    establishes a National Taskforce on Women & Girls in the Media to promote healthy, balanced, positive images for the benefit of all youth.

What can parents do about sexualization via media literacy?  How can YOU help with H.R. 4925? Read the summary. Read the full HR 4925 document. Read who else is advocating for the bill and why. Then urge your congressional representative to cosponsor/sign on to the bill. (call/write/click/send, lots of action steps after the jump) (more…)

July 1, 2010 For those mumbling, “COPPA schmoppa, there goes Amy into policy wonk land, please translate media jargon into usable tidbits” I’ll offer a few primers…

What is COPPA? Why do we need it? (see DigitalAds.org for an interactive show-n-tell which all ages can grok for an ‘aha’ moment on food and beverage marketing targeting kids in the digital age) Who are some of the key advocates involved with COPPA?

And…for those who have been waiting on pins and needles to hear what new roles and rules are taking shape with mobile, video game and behavioral ad marketing to kids, the COPPA coalition has provided an update (summary here) to keep the FTC abreast of the ever-expanding spectrum of targeting kids as it pertains to privacy protections and digital (er, human) rights. This was a huge discussion at the Ypulse 2010 Mashup as marketers, academic researchers and tween moderators/online community leaders grappled with compliance, ethics, and ‘what ifs’ to try to get a handle on loopholes that need closed, as well as misinterpretations of age restrictions and residual fallout from a policy and practices standpoint.

Here’s the full release, the gist of the filing, and what the COPPA coalition specifically asks the FTC to do: (more…)

June 29, 2010 As a kids’ health advocate (inside and out) I’ve been covering the “HUGE” conversation pertaining to media’s responsibility and accountability in how the portrayal of being overweight in our appearance-obsessed culture is handled. (Huge: Part One, Part Two)

Now it’s time to weigh in on the policy piece. (I’m not referring to RWJF’s annual “F as in Fat” assessment either; though the interactive is a must-see)

I just finished reading a sound, well-reasoned “action alert” from the EDC (Eating Disorders Coalition) who is working with Congressional representatives to convince the first lady and her Let’s Move campaign to expand the initiative in a huge way by addressing the bigger picture and including eating disorders alongside obesity prevention to convey responsibility in full tilt surround sound. Once again, we’re asking for a ‘first strike’ from the “powers that be” to ‘get it right’ and avoid doing unintentional damage while advocating for healthier bodies…

While we advocate strongly for Let’s Move’s obesity prevention and systemic health improvement, we also know that the heightened focus on weight (and constant media coverage of same) can invariably compound weight-related stigmas with unintentional reverb, including risky weight loss methods and development of eating disorders.

Let’s ensure we don’t have the spotlight shining so brightly on one main outcome while it slingshots to another with secondary reverb…In short, Let’s Move with our media and marketing messages very wisely! Here’s how: (more…)

June 27, 2010 In Part Two of this HUGE conversation (premiering tomorrow on ABC Family, my Part One is here) we’ll try to unpack some of the core questions that SHOULD be top of mind to embrace the media literacy side of the body image, obesity, nutrition and kids’ health dialog.

I’ll start with the universal disclaimer that I am NOT a medico, eating disorder pro or body image specialist of any sort, just a media mama passionista eager to use the power of media for positive change, in any way, shape or form we can ‘get there.’

Aussie body image author Lisa Cox wrote this note in her promo for her new book “Does My Bum Look Big in This Ad?”

…“Poor media literacy amongst youth has been shown to distort body image and potentially lead to a number of serious physical and mental health concerns, including depression, bullying, eating disorders, self-harm and substance abuse…”

While I agree media literacy helps lift the veil of commercial messaging, it’s no panacea for the onslaught of 24/7 appearance-based focus in our distorted cultural fixation. I try to be circumspect about the whole issue and have even asked, “Are we making matters worse with all the body image chatter?” (more…)

June 24, 2010 “An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.”  —Bill Bernbach

Those timeless words of the venerable ad legend capture the power and potential of HUGE a new series that plops over-sized youth into a weight loss camp amidst a global obesity conversation…(premieres Mon., June 28 on ABC Family)

I’m thrilled mainstream media and Actionist(R) buzz are already forcing people to use their critical thinking skills about how this show could land on people, from healthy mobilization activists and body image pros, to those within the eating disorders community.

Given that every angle is already being covered (see link list at the end) I’m going to unleash the need to reframe the machinations of formula thinking in Hollywood to plausibly turn this endeavor into a HUGE hit.

Rather than dissect what ‘might’ go right or wrong, what if we try to shape the conversation by coming up with some ideas of what we’d ideally like to see Hollywood tackle for productive discourse…What would it take to raise the bar on the quality of TV and maximize the use of media toward positive ends? Call it a conceptual experiment in ‘best practices’…

Hey, it worked for researchers lobbing medical data on AIDS facts into Grey’s Anatomy to influence viewers, why can’t it work for viewers to influence media? (more…)

June 16, 2010 Personal post today to welcome (in over 325 languages) Shaping Youth advisory board member Dr. Robyn Silverman’s new son into the world of global digital citizenship.

Born: Mr. Noah Stone Silverman today at 8:25am – 7lbs 4oz. – 19” already making his premiere on Facebook, Twitter and Shaping Youth!

What does this have to do with media and marketing’s impact on kids? Plenty. For starters, the very way we communicate has uncorked new conversations in digital connectivity.

It’s uplifting, heartening, and downright astounding to see how this ‘brave new world’ has transitioned to be  the digital womb for birthing new relationships, familial bonds and lifelong ties that bind.

Whether it’s the ability to find ‘half brothers and half sisters’ via the voluntary Donor Sibling Registry, important medical and research advances for special needs children or the information silo funneling domestic and worldwide open adoptions into the digital sphere for life-changing actions, the terra firma has shifted forevermore. (more…)