Comments on: Good news and bad news, or, is this really what it takes to sell candy to kids?

By: Shaping Youth

Shaping Youth — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:31:53 +0000

Kudos to you both…it’s unrealistic to think of ‘no marketing to kids’ (sorry, CCFC./Susan et al…you know I’m a realist and with MC on this one) …

And Lisa, I agree that we can’t have ‘eyeballs’ on everything…sadly, that’s where the Target story blew up and bit us (er…more me, somehow?) in the backside…In other words, it got skewed into a ’so what’ snapshot, easy to shrug off in ‘meh, I’ve seen much worse’ mode than to read the actual post for context and put it in proper framing of the OVERALL surround sound objectification we see daily…

btw…That reminds me, did you read they’re having a similar brouhaha in the U.K. over a girl’s bed/furniture line named…Lolita? Yah. Woolworth’s claims cluelessness and a ‘mistake’…but once again… sigh.

http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/2008/02/woolworths_loli.html

I’m not even ready to get back in the ring on that one… I’d like to think there’s either a ‘generation gap’ in play, or core cultural competency lacking (hey, the book was written long ago, maybe now to some it just means ’sexy’ or Gothic Lolita tween fashion in Japan rather than jailbait, or a ‘let’s see if it slides by’ client approval desensitization…or some layered offering of all of the above)–

But it still comes down to…’C'mon folks, what are we putting out there in media messaging…can’t we do better?

As for the ‘What do parents want?’ question? To not have to feel like we’re going to battle for our kids’ hearts and minds every freakin’ day we get up in the morning…Some modicum of peace and a tad of mindfulness in marketing. That’s all we ask. Not much, really…

By: Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter

Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:07:38 +0000

@MC, you’ve just introduced tomorrow’s post for me!

By: The Not Quite Crunchy Parent

The Not Quite Crunchy Parent — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:04:09 +0000

Lisa,

It’s really a shame that the big marketers are stuck in a rut where, because they have so much market share, a tiny movement means millions of dollars. the best way to get these tiny movements is though a continually changing series of marketing and advertising programs.

Every marketer is judged on growth…grow your brand…grow your career. Growth can be achieved without marketing to children the way we deplore here but it takes a corporate mindset change…one I hope we see soon.

By: StealthBadger

StealthBadger — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:05:10 +0000

The Toxic Waste is using similar marketing spin to the Green Slimes and Toxic Avengers of earlier years (though the Toxic Avenger was an… interesting cult film, at least). It’s amazing how many hoops they jump through to sell sugar, flavor, and in some cases fat.

Mostly off topic… How many parents are bringing their kids to the advertising festival tonight?

By: Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter

Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:48:03 +0000

@MC, you’ve hit on something here, which is that the type of product being marketed — there’s a big difference between a sturdy wooden puzzle and a plastic, candy filled wand. It seem to me that the corps with the big ad budgets are also the ones who are turning out more and more unnecessay products. There’s a line there, somewhere, between products that sustain healthy kids/families and those that don’t. Those products close to the line may go one way for one parent and another way for another. But there are extremes out there that are worthy of attention, and those are the ones I would like to focus on.

@Jeff, I know, the press release was written in typical corporate-speak. Pretty bad.

By: Jeff Zuckerman

Jeff Zuckerman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:55:45 +0000

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I see on their Web site that Toxic Challenge is an “exciting novelty candy.”

Zuckerman Maxim 21 is that if something is marketed as exciting, it probably isn’t. I give it about a year.

Still, it has “motivated me to act upon the issues behind this name.” I’ve decided that toxic waste is a really, really, really bad thing, and they should do something about it.