Get 'em while they last! Ty exploits Obama girls with plush dolls

It's hard for any parent to shield their children from overzealous and exploitative marketing ploys and gimmicks. But pity Michelle Obama, who - less than a week into settling into the White House -- had to respond to the newly released 'Marvelous Malia' and 'Sweet Sasha' dolls created by Ty, the same Oakbrook, IL- based toy company that makes Beanie Babies.

These are tough economic times and the Beanie Baby craze is long since over - but still - is this really necessary? Couldn't have Ty's marketing and licensing executives just picked up the phone? "Hey Michelle, we realize that you're a busy woman and your daughters are already in the spotlight more than you'd like them to be, but would it be all right with you if we exploited their new-found fame with a series of products in their likeness? We'll start with the dolls, move onto a book series, and then maybe a theme park ride..."

Okay, better to ask forgiveness than permission. The dolls are kind of cute and I'm sure sales will be strong, especially since they're getting all this free publicity over the controversy.

Not so fast: new teen research indicates well, more of the same

Today, MarketingVOX summarized the recently released Simmons Teen Study and found that teens are spending money on the same type of products that they did in the 1990s: music, clothes, video games and electronics. Couldn't this also ring true for say, the 1980s and 1970s as well? (okay, maybe not the video game part and certainly not mobile or online communications) but my point is this: for all of the talk about how kids and teens are "growing up faster than ever before" and the "world is such a different place"-- when you look at the research, their lives aren't all that different. Music. Clothes. Games. Communication. Pretty simple, really.

Marketers trying to reach kids and teens should most certainly stay relevant, get up to speed on the latest technologies and understand how trends in consumer behavior will impact their brands. Just don't go reinventing the wheel.

Kids Online Safety Resources

This past Friday a group of kids industry experts got together for a monthly conference call. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I did think that the follow up lists of internet safety resources was really worth sharing. Here goes:

From Melissa at kids online playground Dizzywood.com:

NetSmartz - http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx - offers Internet safety videos, presentations, activity cards and lesson plans, including cyberbullying "real-life stories"

Adina's Deck - http://www.adinasdeck.com/ - videos and worksheets on cyberbullying; you can also book an assembly with the cast and crew

iSafe - http://www.isafe.org/ - training curriculum on Internet safety, including cyberbullying; also offers iMentor program for students to educate their peers on the topic

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use (CSRIU) - http://www.cyberbully.org/ - tips for parents and educators, including worksheets for students

Cyberbullying.us - http://www.cyberbullying.us/resources.php - primarily research on cyberbullying; also includes some activities to engage youth in discussions about the topic

Digizen - http://www.digizen.org/ - UK-based organization offering classroom resources, including a cyberbullying film, teacher's guide and lesson plan

From Amy at Shaping Youth:

I'd add the Ad Council/Nat'l Crime Prevention PSAs which are good teaching tools on cyberbullying prevention and imposter profiling: http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=42
From a 16-yr. old boy's firstperson experience: this fellow in Australia had much to say: http://thewoodverdict.blogspot.com/2008/04/tom-woods-complete-guide-to-stopping.html

And on the Megan Meier/Lori Drew MySpace mom indictment: Andy Carvin (pbs teachers) wrote a good post bringing up 'terms of service' issues here: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2008/05/indictments_handed_down_in_the.html

Finally, here are a few of my own "link-laden" posts to cyberbullying resources/prevention/info, including the Harris Interactive poll/pdf, stats, to add to Melissa's starter list! http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=423 and http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=395

p.s. Of course, for real-time forums/w/pragmatic peeks at kids' foibles: Anne Collier's ConnectSafely is always insightful/pragmatic (but she's on this list so that's a given) and her NetFamily News is a must read...For tween books/fiction novels on the subject (informal experiential learning akin to Adina's Deck) here's a recent book out too: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Truman-School/dp/0807580953/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206203777&sr=8-1

From Dave at G2 Strategic Services:

The following link contains very relevant content for parents.
http://look-both-ways.com/stayingsafe/protectingkids.htm

We also just launched a new community site that she/he can join.
http://www.ilookbothways.com/

Feel free to share any more links you may have.

Santa forgot something this year: children's healthcare

I am dedicating my last blog of 2008 to an issue that I care deeply about: children's healthcare. Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner, organizer for the nonprofit organization MomsRising.org sent out this e-mail today and I couldn't agree with her more... and that is why I'm quoting her text verbatim:

In my nine-year-old daughter's letter to Santa this year she wrote: "Dear Mr. Claus, I know you are extremely busy this year, but I was hoping that you could give healthcare to all kids as one of my x-mas presents. I'm sorry if I'm asking for too much." (Evidently I take my work home with me!)
There wasn't a wrapped present under the White House tree this year with healthcare coverage for all kids, however… it's not too much to hope for in the next year. President-Elect Obama has vowed to fight for healthcare as well as for other family economic security policies like early learning/childcare opportunities, fair pay, paid sick days, family leave, and flexible work options.

In order to make this happen, the voices of mothers and families are needed. Why? Prior to the election, Obama was quoted as saying: "If lightning strikes and I get elected, I will need a movement at my back, or I won't be able to accomplish anything." MomsRising is just that kind of movement. Yet with the current economic crisis it's harder than ever for non-profits like MomsRising to raise the funds that are need to keep building the movement to make this happen.

*Can you please donate $10, $25, $50, $100, or $250 now to MomsRising? Your donation will help build a strong movement to push important family economic security policies toward the finish line.

Online donations can be made at http://www.momsrising.org/TogetherWeCan

Happy New Year, everyone.

The Newbery Award's latest plot twist

The literary world is currently debating the Newbery Award's value, questioning whether the latest winners are inspiring to children, or just plain obscure. In yesterday's Washington Post article, reporter Valerie Strauss cites an October article in the School Library Journal --- "Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?" by children's literary expert Anita Silvey as starting off the debate. According to Strauss,  "of the 25 winners and runners-up chosen from 2000 to 2005, four books deal with death, six with the absence of one or both parents and four with such mental challenges as autism. Most of the rest deal with tough social issues." Not exactly light reading. This year's winner, "Voices from a Medieval Village" is a series of monologues that would be difficult for a child to read on his or her own. And... do I dare say that it sounds really boring? Not that I should judge a book by its cover. 

Nobody ever said that Newbery Award winners are supposed to have mass appeal;  it's not a popularity contest. Still, I do agree with Silvey that "quality and popularity are not mutually exclusive concepts." In order to stay relevant and to encourage and inspire reading among more and more children, The Newbery Award committee could rethink their strategy just a little. I wonder if they've ever asked kids what they think about the finalists before they make their selections. Just a thought.