Isn’t this better than a Top Ten list? Ranked by number of pageviews:

1. A thousand words: Not a post at all; rather, this was an image that first appeared in Feministe. Most hits came because it was linked to in a book review on Salon.com. The photo of the Hooters girl in training toddler-sized t-shirt elicited a collective wtf? heard round the world.

2. Target Corporation assumes feminism is dead; dismisses bloggers and

3. Why the Target “snow angel” ad matters: Bringing the discussion back to parenting and corporate responsibility: Two posts I have no desire to revisit here, after all, it’s New Year’s Eve and there are some things about the year I’d rather forget. But hey, it got me on local television (and therefore lots of hits) and put Target on its own top five list by Joseph Jaffe. It’s been a year since I’ve stepped foot in a Target and I haven’t missed it a bit.

4. Children’s online virtual worlds create dull mini-capitalists: A personal favorite. Hits came mostly from web searches on children and virtual worlds. Got the attention of The Guardian’s Aleks Krotoski. Hoping it affected at least some parents’ views.

5. Helping kids see past commercialism: Another wonderfully written, informative, and helpful post. But I didn’t write it. Tiffany at Nature Moms Blog did. Her original post also has one of the best photo-illustrations I’ve ever seen. Thanks, Tiffany, and hope you got as much traffic from your post as I did.

I also took a quick look to see the top corporate or public relations visitors:

1. Target Corporation
2. Edelman Public Relations
3. Carmichael-Lynch
4. CBS Inc.
5. Procter and Gamble
6. Disney Worldwide Services
7. Kellogg Company
8. CBS Corporation
9. Scholastic Book Fairs
10. General Mills

All in all, a good year for Corporate Babysitter and Parents for Ethical Marketing. Thanks for being a part of it!

We’ve continued our annual family tradition of making — rather than purchasing — Christmas cards. This years’ are especially nice since most of the materials came from a friend who gave us a load of paper and the design concept and execution were handled by my 11-year-old.

Painted paper with shades of green;

Cut out triangle trees with zig-zag scissors;

Added a trunk and glued the trees to black paper, then spatter-painted white with toothbrushes.

Our snowy, evergreen cards:

Merry Christmas, readers, and on Earth, Peace.

Thank you so much to all who have sent your kind words, both public and private, regarding my recent life changes. Your encouragement, understanding, and thoughtfulness have been invaluable.

Two weeks down at the new job and all is going well. Really well. The work is tiring, though, not yet as energizing as calling out unacceptable corporate behavior on a daily basis. (Not as fun, either.)

Recent lack of blog posts, however, has more to do with the Christmas holidays than it does the new job. It’s always a busy and somewhat stressful month. I was successful, though, in keeping the girls away from the toy catalogs, out of the stores, and concentrating on our handmade Christmas cards and a couple handmade gifts. We’re all aware of how different this holiday will be from past years — as it will be for so many families — but it hasn’t dampered anyone’s spirits.

Thanks again for all your support and if you are celebrating a holiday this month, I wish you the best of luck in avoiding the commercialism and embracing your family, friends, and all that is good in your life.

Crossposted from The Responsible Marketing Blog by Patrick Beyers.

I have no problem with the sale of sexy lingerie. It’s, well, sexy.

But it’s a bit jarring to see a product on Amazon called Girls Spider Web Sexy Tights Hosiery Leg Wear from a risque lingerie company called PrettySinful next to the picture of the little girl, above.

One Amazon customer reviewer sums it up nicely:

Are you crazy?
Should ANY product featuring an 11-12 year old girl be named “Sexy”? I think this product is inappropriate.
~Jerry Ozbun

Another reviewer sums it up, not-so-nicely:

Perfect gift for all the slaves you could go visit in Thailand
You guys know about that right? The international and domestic childhood sexual slavery rings? That’s your target demographic, right? Or, do you guys promote a ‘look but don’t touch’ attitude?

Also, I wish I could punch you.

~Dennis J. McAneny

Maybe PrettySinful should stick to products for grownups. Or, at the very least, consider renaming their products for girls.

In the meantime, what action, if any, should Amazon take?

Seriously. If you have children and Christmas in your life, here’s some help in the gift-giving sanity department.

CCFC Guide to Commercial-Free Holidays 
Suggestions and personal stories from staff, board members, and friends of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Includes tips from CCFC members (add yours, too).

TRUCE 2008-2009 Toys, Play & Young Children Action Guide
A must-read before shopping. “This guide is intended to help adults promote children’s creative and constructive play by making informed choices about toys, and by working with others at home, school, and in the community to promote positive play and toys.”

Simplify the Holidays
From the Center for a New American Dream. The Alternative Gift Registry “makes it easy to choose non-material, homemade, second-hand, and environmentally-friendly gifts.”

Cool Mom Picks 2008 Holiday Gift Guide
Advertorial free. Thoughtful, high quality gifts — many supporting smaller companies, indie designers, and moms working from home. For toys, see the Cool Mom Picks Safer Toy Guide (”. . . we hope that you’re willing to invest in better quality toys, even if that means having fewer of them. How many rattles does one kid need anyway?”)

Guide to Safer Children’s Products
From Healthy Legacy, this guide helps you avoid purchasing products with harmful synthetic chemicals commonly used in children’s products. With handy take-along wallet card.

2008 MediaWise Parents Guide to Video Games
For anyone planning to purchase a video game for a child this year. The Video Game Buying Guide includes good choices and games to avoid.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Toy Safety Tips
CPSC press release lists top five toy hazards and information on how to get recalled product notices sent to your email.

Best Toys for the Holidays 2008
From the Not Quite Crunchy Parent and friend of PEM M.C. Milker.

Help make the Ultimate Guide to Guides even better: Add your links in the comments.

Photo courtesy Jeff Belmonte.

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My kids attend a great public school here in Minneapolis and as you might suspect, I keep my eye on commercialism creep there. It is rarely a problem. One day I did notice a busload of kids running into school with brand-new Target bookbags, straight from a Target-sponsored trip to the zoo. I bit my tongue.

Last week my daughter came home with an offer to participate in the McDonald’s All-American Reading Challenge. For every ten books she reads, she gets a Happy Meal. (Didn’t they learn anything from the report card-Happy Meal fiasco?) I wrote the teacher, declining the invitation and asking for an alternative reading “incentive” for my daughter — a book, perhaps?

Another parent brought this one to my attention. It came home with her son from the school lunchroom. It’s a bookmark with a word search on it. Educational!

Find the seven words hidden below that can lead you to a healthy day.

See the first word in the list? DORITOS?

But see, PepsiCo isn’t saying that DORITOS will lead you to a healthy day. That would be crazy!

The instructions say to find the seven words.

And the list has eight.  

Read: FTC Hands Kids Over to Junk Food Marketers, Defying Global Principles

I’m firing myself as executive director of Parents for Ethical Marketing.

If you’ve been following the progress of PEM, you know that my plan was to get nonprofit status so I could apply for grants and raise funds in order to have a real budget — including a salary.

But as for so many others right now, the economy has gotten in my way.

In our home, our primary source of income has been from twenty years’ of real estate investments. And reinvestments. And that’s not going so well right now. Among the obvious problems, like declining home values, we mistakenly thought that new home construction would be a good investment.  And one of our many mortgage brokers turned out be corrupt. It’s not been a good year.

And as for my fundraising efforts? I really haven’t been surprised by the response. People have little money to donate now, and those that do are giving to charities with more critical missions. PEM is not going to be on the top of anyone’s giving list.

For these reasons I am returning to real world of work with a very real paycheck. I am very fortunate to have found a job that’s a good fit for me. I will miss working in my jammies but will enjoy the company of co-workers again.

So what does this all mean for PEM? Several things. I will not be able to commit so much time. For now, I am giving up the newsletter and the prospect of taking the show on the road to parents on any regular basis. The blog will remain, although posting will be more infrequent.

And what does this mean for you? If you’re on the mailing list, I hope you’ll stay. I will still send out action alerts when necessary. And perhaps a special edition newsletter now and then. Plus, I have things you could do. If you have any interest in writing posts or contributing your talents and time any other way, please drop me a line.

Otherwise, I hope you’ll continue reading Corporate Babysitter.