From the category archives:

Advertising+Media

New Study Links Commercials in TV (Not Watching TV) to Obesity

This week in Red Pillville, obesity seems to be the featured topic. So when I was perusing articles that I had bookmarked for later reading on Instapaper, the piece entitled, “Commercials Are the Culprit in TV-Obesity Link,” by Tara Parker-Pope on the New York Times Blog caught my attention (you can read the article by [...]

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Mama’s Two Cents on the Big Gulp Issue: Embracing “No”

Red Pill Papa’s Big Gulp post has my brain so completely twitterpated that I simply have to post instead of comment.  I’m Tippi Hedren once again, swatting a swarm of birds flying around my head, but the one that’s gripped my shoulder and is pecking my skull is saying, “No.  No.  No.”  Because I can’t help but [...]

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Will a Big Gulp Tax Make a Dent in Childhood Obesity?

Have you ever thought to compare the current obesity crisis — with soda taking center stage — to the fight against Big Tobacco? Well that is how the author of the following New York  Times article is framing it. Read ”Soda – A Sin We Sip Instead of Smoke” here: http://nyti.ms/9ar5mK. Taxing soda could be a good [...]

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Digging Deeper into Skin Deep Products

My husband recently told me about a website he heard about on Howard Stern of all places: Skin Deep, a cosmetic safety database compiled by The Environmental Working Group. The site rates what appears to be an impressive variety of personal care products on a 1-10 scale, the results of which fall into a low, [...]

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The Haitian Earthquake: How to Involve Our Kids + Old News Already?

When the story broke about the Haitian earthquake, I found myself glued to the TV in a state of sadness and shock.  I found the images, as I’m sure many of you did, to be quite graphic and disturbing and made it a point to either turn off the TV or change the channel when [...]

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Movie Ratings – Half the Story, or More Like 5%?

Last year I purchased a kids’ movie (rated PG for “momentary language”) based on a book that I read and loved as a child, and have read over and over with my daughter especially.  I figured the movie was based on such a fantastic book that it was a pretty sure bet, and in general [...]

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Specifying Gifts: Party Invite Faux Pas, or Conscious Parent Protocol?

Anastasia (faithful reader, commentor and Red Pill Parent) brought up a really interesting point after reading my It’s Time to Fall Out of Love With Cheap post.  She writes: It’s difficult to control children’s possessions when well-meaning family and friends give gifts that you wouldn’t buy for your children (i.e., cheap plastic). Not only cheap [...]

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Oh, This Bloody Coke Thing

Consider if you will: a public elementary school has a fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes.  This school offers reduced-fat and whole wheat items on its lunch menu.   Its students are asked to bring a healthy snack and water to school each day.  Some of its students have the opportunity to earn play money for good [...]

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Through The Seasons: One Year In 90 Seconds

Thanks to the work of Eirik Solheim from Oslo, Norway I was touched deeply by the magic of nature. For an entire year in 2009, Mr. Solheim captured 30 seconds of video roughly every week and edited the year’s footage down to a total of 90 seconds. If you have a child nearby, why not [...]

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Branded Kids and the Diabolical Depot

I’ve been reading a lot about advertising’s effect on kids and the general over-prominence of big corporate brands in our culture lately, as I’ve cruised through Packaging Girlhood and Consuming Kids (Red Pill Parent bibles, by the way: and Packaging Boyhood, by the same authors, was just published in October).  But I had an opportunity [...]

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