The Search for Cool is a British television documentary produced in 2006. This clip shows how a buzz marketing company, Dubit, works with children as young as six to sell Nintendo products:

H/T Autoscopia

My girls are out of school, summer vacations have begun, and we’re moving into “summer office hours.” You can expect fewer blog posts from me here at Corporate Babysitter.

I am trying to line up some great guest bloggers and will continue to work on our site redesign.

One good way to stay on top of things is to subscribe to the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood’s RSS feed.

And while you’re thinking about CCFC, take a moment to send them a few bucks. They need to raise ten grand by June 30, are over half-way there, and just need a bit more to make it. Remember, CCFC accepts no corporate funding — so folks like us can sure help them pay the bills.

And now, off to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Back next week!

photo courtesy guruscotty

Today I’m honored to be interviewed by Kimberly Bock at Learning SEO Basics: Supporter of Ethical Marketing. Kimberly’s goal is “to establish communication with ethical marketers on a global scale [and] use this blog as a consistent daily feed of ethical marketing resources . . . .” The series includes interviews with Jonathon Colman from The Nature Conservancy and Chris Baskind from Vida Verde Media.

In addition to this interview, several other things have made me feel like a success today. The first was a visit to Corporate Babysitter from someone over at Jaffe Juice who hung around and read a couple pages. And some visits from Shakesville readers. And visitors still coming from Salon.com.

Success!

I also received my first unsolicited media kit. The folks over at the Pioneer Press want me to advertise in their Nonprofit Giving Guide published in November. Not sure how they got my email address, but hey: someone, somewhere thinks I have an ad budget!*

Success!

But the best was when my daughter approached me this morning. She had today’s newspaper in her hand and a look on her face that said: “Uh-oh, get ready for Mom’s head to explode.”

“What?” I said. “What’s wrong?” She handed me the newspaper and I saw this photo.

Although the story was not about salons catering to seven-year-olds, which would have made my head explode, I have to admit that she’s got a good eye.

Success!

*As I may have mentioned, Parents for Ethical Marketing has not yet been granted 501(c)3 status by the IRS.

Asthma Mom looks at a summer “Fashion Camp” held at a Louisville mall in Teaching Young Girls How to Shop. For Self-Confidence.

The camp coordinator says that while the camp “has a fashion background . . . it also has to do with personal development and self-confidence.”

The personal development must come from these activities:

– lessons in modeling and posing;
– learning fashion terminology;
– putting together and accessorizing outfits;
– understanding the importance of thank-you notes (courtesy Hallmark); and
– standing up in front of the class and describing fashion choices.

The youngest camp attendees (ages 6 to 8) can join in on the fun with these sessions:

– Let’s Play Fashion Seek and Find! (courtesy J. Crew);
– Let’s Accessorize a Dress! and
– What Do I Need To Do to Keep My Skin Pretty?

I suppose an argument could be made for the merits of teaching girls to present themselves in an appropriate manner. That argument would work well in, say, the 1800s. But not today, when we know that the marketing-body-image-consumerism cycle is actually detrimental to girls:

. . . The “quick-fix” of a purchase actually robs [girls] of self-determination, self-awareness, and self-esteem. Encouraged to look outside of themselves for comfort, values and direction, girls become easy prey to addictive behaviors and unrealistic images . . . . In fact, the diet, tobacco and alcohol industries target girls, capitalizing on the body image, weight concerns, and beauty ideals that make them most vulnerable.

And let’s face it: this camp exists only to encourage girls to become shoppers at this neighborhood mall.

“As far as we know, this is the only program of its kind in the country,” says the camp coordinator.

Amen.

Read more: I Want, Therefore I Am: Global Girls in Consumer Culture

Sick and tired of the product placements seeping into everything your child watches on television?

So is the Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood, who got together other concerned organizations — children’s media watchdogs, public health advocates, consumer groups, and child advocacy groups, including Parents for Ethical Marketing — and wrote to the FCC asking the commission to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding product placement and integrated marketing on television.

“The diversity and breadth of this coalition reflects the growing concern that marketers are hijacking television content and foisting branded propaganda on an unsuspecting public,” said [CCFC Director] Dr. [Susan] Linn.  “The rise of embedded advertising deprives parents of the ability to protect their children from unwanted marketing influences, threatens public health, and undermines democracy.” – Press release

Some facts from the letter:

– 69 percent of parents are concerned that their children were exposed to too many ads in TV programming;

– TV product placement revenue grew 33.7 percent to $2.9 billion and product placement occurrences rose 13 percent in 2007, with 25,950 placements in the top ten shows;

– Cable programming is even more saturated, with 163,737 occurrences in the top ten shows;

– On American Idol alone, there were 4,151 product placements in the first 38 episodes this year, and branded content jumped 19 percent to a total of 545 minutes, or 14 minutes per episode. 

By adopting the NPRM, parents, caregivers, and advocates will have the opportunity to let the FCC know what they think of integrated marketing; the FCC is required to take those comments into account when they consider new regulations.

Of course, some people think that, while it’s okay to look into the problem, nothing should really be done about it. They would like to see the FCC issue a Notice of Inquiry, which would only require an investigation. Nothing else. Let’s see, who would want to continue turning television shows into infomercials? I guess that would be the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

But not to worry. Remember, one of the FCC commissioners just stated publicly that the FCC should issue the NPRM.

And when the FCC adopts the NPRM and it becomes open for public comment, I’ll let you know.

See also: Timeline: FCC and Integrated Marketing

UPDATE: FCC Is Urged To Clamp Down On Product Placement at Marketing Daily

Photo courtesy AndrewEich

Joseph Jaffe of Jaffe Juice uses the “snow-angel” ad and Target’s response to blogger Amy Jussel as an example of a major social media mistake.

Watch Social Media Mistakes of Five Big Marketers. Target is featured beginning around 4:30.

Jaffe also acknowledges the colossal mistakes of Sprint, Sony, T-Mobile, and Starbucks.

From AdAge:

Nothing aggravates blogger Joseph Jaffe more than marketers that employ fakery, manipulation and heavy-handed lawyers in their social-media interactions with consumers. Author of the books “Life After the 30-Second Spot” and “Join the Conversation,” Jaffe is the head of the marketing consulting company Crayon. He also runs the blog JaffeJuice, which is No. 26 on Ad Age’s Power 150 ranking of the top media and marketing blogs. This video contains eight minutes of his remarks at the recent Association of National Advertisers’ Integrated Marketing Conference.

When I was a new mom, one well-meaning relative told me, after a look inside my daughter’s closet, “You know, it’s okay for kids to have more than one pair of shoes.”

But I could never understand why you’d need to have more. We were pretty happy with a couple pair: tennis shoes (winter) and sandals (summer).

So I guess I’m not the norm. Toddler footwear is “a hot market,” according to today’s The Boston Globe. 

Sneakers for infants and toddlers are the fastest growing segment in athletic footwear, with sales over the past three years soaring 34 percent to $1.35 billion in 2007. . . . Sales for adults grew just 3.5 percent over the same period.

Both New Balance and Reebok say that their new marketing campaigns for toddler sneakers are geared toward moms.

“For the most part, the mother is still making the buying decision, but she’s more influenced by her children than ever before,” said Neil Hernberg, head of Reebok’s kids division.

Gee, I wonder what would cause a mom to be influenced by her child when it comes to shoe purchases? Could it be that kids are somehow influenced by New Balance’s multimillion dollar sponsorship deal with Sesame Street? Or the ads on Nickelodeon during the Nick Jr. programming? Geared toward moms? Please.

The race to lace up toddlers makes sense [ed. note: debatable] because they need new shoes more often for their growing feet and parents are willing to spend more on children than on themselves, retail analysts say. Moreover, brand loyalty can begin at the earliest of ages.

Unethical marketing? Well, trying to impress kids with a brand when they are toddlers so they’ll want to buy later is pretty darn creepy, in a manchurian-candidate kind of way.

And one other tiny little issue: the best thing for growing toddler feet? Go barefoot whenever possible.

Parents beleaguered by the high cost of children’s footwear may be relieved to hear that, in the opinion of many orthopedists, the best thing for growing feet is not that pair of adorable, miniaturized glow-in-the-dark running shoes . . . but rather no shoes at all.

(Granted, it’s almost twenty-year-old research, but I challenge the shoe-product industry to come up with anything more recent that contradicts this.)

Photo courtesy lumkness

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, fresh from a terrific speech at the National Conference on Media Reform, criticized the FCC’s inaction to safeguard children and asked for industry cooperation when he addressed the Media Institute on June 11.

While many of the steps Adelstein proposed concerned television programming, the V-chip and other blocking technologies, and ratings, he also addressed advertising directed at children. Two of his proposals:

Launch Embedded Advertising in Children’s Programming Proceeding. The Commission should release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on sponsorship identification and embedded advertising. Specifically, it needs to solicit public comment on whether our existing rules governing commercials in children’s programming adequately promote the policy goals underlying the Children’s Television Act and the sponsorship ID rules. This is especially important with respect to embedded advertising in children’s programming.

Finalize Interactive Advertisement Targeting Children Proceeding. The Commission should quickly move on the 2004 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how to implement sensible restrictions on interactive ads targeting children. The Commission tentatively concluded that interactive ads targeting children should be banned. With the growing convergence of television and the Internet, we need to promulgate rules before interactive advertising becomes an established business model.

Emphasis mine. Adelstein also suggested that the FCC host a Summit on Protecting America’s Children to “encourage all stakeholders to bring their best ideas forward and develop best practices.”

In his speech, Adelstein acknowleged what Parents for Ethical Marketing and other organizations have been trying to get in front of the media-makers: that parents are tired of the fight.

In case you don’t know it already, many parents are feeling inundated by an array of media that are flooding their children’s minds with inappropriate material. Too many parents feel like they are losing control, and they’re frustrated by a seemingly relentless march of coarse material that is too violent, too sexual, too commercial or too unhealthy for their children. Messages or images their children are not ready to hear pop up in too many places for parents to easily control, from insensitively timed commercials during otherwise family-friendly programming to Internet ads and spam coming over the computer.

There is growing concern about unhealthful messages and images as well. . . . Many studies show the damaging effects of advertising on children’s food choices. Some of your companies have taken important steps, but there is far more to be done.

For parents, it’s like a game of whack-a-mole, with an increasing number of moles jumping up faster and faster. Too many parents suffer from a sense of exhaustion or futility. I suspect many of you share these concerns on a personal level, but many of you also work for powerful media companies that are helping this mole population to proliferate. . . .

I believe I speak for millions of parents when I say we’re overwhelmed, fed up and looking for help from the government and the industry alike.  

I would have been skeptical if I hadn’t heard Adelstein speak with such passion and conviction myself. We’ll be contacting his office to see how PEM members can participate in the rulemaking process.

Here’s to a little hopeful optimism!