Insight into 2008 marketing trends from Tina Wells, the CEO of Buzz Marketing Group, which specializes in connecting companies with what teens/tweens really want (they’ve got 9,000 teenage “buzzspotters” worldwide).

Ms. Wells writes in the December issue of  Media Magazine:

An interesting new trend that will definitely expand is the rise of Tweenabees. Tweenabees are essentially parents who want to be more like their tweens. We are living in an age when parents want to connect with their children as much as possible, even if it means learning the latest trends. They want to let their tweens know that they are not just their parents – they are their friends. Tweenabees open up a whole new hybrid segment in the market, creating the need for products related to tweens, but designed for parents. Parents want to be educated in what’s hot at the moment, from tween fashion to the latest craze in toys, to the most popular stars. They want to get in on these trends and show their tweens that they’re not so different.

Wow.

Now, I don’t want to say that Ms. Wells doesn’t know what she is talking about (she is an experienced professional), but last time I checked the cool parenting “trend” was to be an “authority figure” and not a “pal.”

I’m sure that Buzz Marketing Group has the research to back up this inevitable Tweenabee trend. It must show that we parents, in our well-intentioned quest to raise healthy kids, are creating a “whole new” “hybrid” “segment” in the “market.”

Wake up and smell the CEO’s salary, parents: Buzz Media is creating the market segment, by spreading the Tweenabee notion to their client companies, who will then begin to brainstorm, create, and market products. (Let’s see — related to tweens, but designed for parents . . . Clairol Nice ‘N Easy in Hannah Montana Blonde? The High School Musical Edition Blackberry?)

If we don’t stop buying into these manufactured “needs” — and teaching our kids how to avoid the same trap — we will never break the cycle of buy, use, and toss that is wreaking havoc on the planet and creating a nation of miserable kids.

Kids who watch a lot of commercials ask Santa for advertised toys. Interesting: Girls requested more advertised products than boys.

CPSC acting chair likes the recent House vote on consumer product safety legislation. Weird, because she didn’t approve of the Senate version of the bill at all.

No product is safe from Disney branding: Rayovac Batteries in a Partnership With the World of Disney Characters. Next up: Disney Princess deodorant. You heard it here first.

Trying to do the right thing at Christmas really takes it out of a blogger.

Even I’m tired of the safe toys issue. And the Christmas consumption issue.

And I’m not ready for Christmas!

One thing we’ve always done is make our own Christmas cards. This year we went with all recycled materials. We were inspired by these cards from Disney-owned Family Fun magazine. We cut up all the catalogs we get to make the candles and painted plain paper to make the flames.

Now I just have to address and mail them.

See you next year.

This piece of inspirational blogging is brought to you by Feministing:

A Feministing reader found an offensive pair of junior-sized underwear at Walmart, took a photo, and sent it to the blog. The story is picked up other bloggers. Outrage ensues, and within a couple days, the panties are pulled from stores.

A victory for online activism!

(Of course, when family-friendly Fox News links to your blog, you have to deal with the consequences: Feministing is publishing select hate mail today.)

And in The Nation, Barbara Ehrenreich discusses the lure of the Disney Princesses:

. . . the Princesses exert their pull through a dark and undeniable eroticism. They’re sexy little wenches, for one thing. Snow White has gotten slimmer and bustier over the years; Ariel wears nothing but a bikini top (though, admittedly, she is half fish.) In faithful imitation, the 3-year-old in my life flounces around with her tiara askew and her Princess gown sliding off her shoulder, looking for all the world like a London socialite after a hard night of cocaine and booze. Then she demands a poison apple and falls to the floor in a beautiful swoon. Pass the Rohypnol-laced margarita, please.

It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex–and especially some middle-aged man’s twisted version thereof–doesn’t belong in the pre-K playroom.

Guess I’m old-fashioned that way too. When it arrives in the U.S. (if it hasn’t already), I will deny my daughter her right to participate in the Miss Disney Princess Pageant.

Evidently our beloved Webkinz were not making quite enough money for Ganz executives.

According to Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Ganz has “quietly” decided to accept advertisements in the virtual Webkinz World. The site has included ads for Bee Movie and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

This is A Sad Day in our home.

I had welcomed Ganz’s buy-the-stuffed-toy scheme because Webkinz World was such a welcome relief from the creepy ad-ridden virtual world of, say, Neopets. (The Golden Arches in Neopia? I don’t think so.)

Webkinz were easy save an allowance for and and a simple solution for relatives looking for a gift. And my girls LOVED them.

Today’s New York Times says reports that Webkinz World had been quite successful:

Other companies, like Mattel and Russ Berrie, have copied the approach. Traffic on Webkinz’s site grew by more than 800 percent over the last year, totaling 7.29 million unique visitors in October, according to Nielsen Online. Its closest competitor, Club Penguin from Disney, had 3.88 million visitors in that period. 

The Times also said that after trying to contact Ganz for comment “on Wednesday, the “Chipmunks” movie ad disappeared from the page.” 

Weird, because as you can see from my screenshot (or maybe you can’t, trust me on this one) the ads were still appearing around 9:45 p.m. (Central) last night.

In any case, we’ll be having a Webkinz-free Christmas here. But I won’t be the heavy. My girls will have to take their whining directly to Ganz.

You can too.

A better shopping experience is coming to a store near you via the exciting, reliable, and safe TV Kart.

The shopping cart, developed by Cabco in New Zealand, has a special child’s seat with a “steering wheel, interactive buttons on the dashboard, and a 7-inch TV monitor on which children watch selected TV programs.”

(Cool 3-D presentation of the TV Kart here.)

The purpose of the TV Kart is, of course, to keep your children entertained while you are trudging through your weekly shopping. 

The cart caught my eye because I think it is a great example of a common question I hear: What’s so wrong with having a little peace and quiet while shopping? (Variation A: What’s wrong with buying Disney Princess toothpaste? Now my daughter loves to brush her teeth! Variation B: What’s wrong with watching a Bob the Builder video? It teaches cooperation!) 

And the answer is: Nothing. There is nothing wrong with any one of these things. Individually.

But unfortunately, marketers make sure that kids are not just targeted a single time. Or twice. Or eight hundred times. A day. 

So your child is sitting in their TV Kart, watching Dora the Explorer, which, by itself, is a fine show for kids. But what happens when you hit the ice cream aisle and your child glances over and sees the Dora ice cream?

Nickelodeon, who owns Dora, has a $3 billion consumer products division and 150 licensing partners. Nickelodeon characters are sold through “every channel of retails distribution.” And Nickelodeon Recreation reaches 22 million consumers annually through theme parks and hotels.

And what about the research on children and screen time?

– Early exposure to television (at ages one and three) is related to attention problems at age seven;
– Television viewing affects sleep efficiency in school-age children;
– Excessive television viewing is associated with overweight preschoolers; and
– Excessive television viewing has an adverse affect on long-term educational achievement.

Wouldn’t stores who really care about the well-being of families use carts that, say, have puzzles built into them? Or perhaps offer a stack of books when you walk in?

Of course, it’s not just the kids that the advertisers are after:

New technology in TV Kart will allow powerful mobile advertising and promotional messages to be presented directly to shoppers as they make their product selection. These messages will be played to them from a new 7 inch monitor while their children are still happily entertained, on the inside of the TV Kart, watching their favorite programs from the monitor inside the TV Kart.

Here’s something to do with your young child next time you are shopping: Count the number of times you spot Dora on a product. Or Shrek. Or Scooby-Doo. Explain to your child that corporations do that so little kids like them will want to buy something that they really don’t need (and is, more than likely, bad for them). Tell them that they are smarter than the corporations.

And you are, too.

McDonald’s advertises on public school report cards. You can run but you can’t hide. Check out the comments on the story and you’ll see that people are still missing the basic facts about the harm in marketing to kids.

Living in the Mall of America. For a week? “I won’t go insane. There’s too much fun to be had in this place.” (via Frugal for Life)

Teenagers are more worried about body image than the environment, school and peer pressure. Good thing there’s no outside pressure to, say, look a certain way.

Trade books, CDs, DVDs, and video games for free with Swaptree. You pay postage, they do the rest. Incredible. (via PHAT Mommy)

It’s not just lead: fifteen hundred popular children’s toys tested for toxic chemicals are ranked in a new searchable online database, thanks in part to Minnesota’s own Healthy Legacy.

HealthyToys.org includes information on how the tests were conducted, chemicals to be concerned about, and lists of best and worst toys.

From the press release:

While some toys had high levels of dangerous chemicals such as PVC, lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, others were free of these harmful additives. [Consumers] can now easily search by product name, brand, or toy type . . . to learn how the products tested rank from highest to lowest in terms of harmful chemical content.

Forty percent of the toys tested contained no toxins. It is possible to make safe toys. Even in China. We just have to ask for them and choose them over chemical-laden cheaper toys.

Here in Minnesota, Parents for Ethical Marketing will support the healthy children’s products bill (and other legislation) which will be introduced during the 2008 session. The bill calls for phasing out phthalates and bisphenol-A, two hormone disrupting chemicals from children’s products.