One million dollar federal fine for Reebok. Two years ago, four-year-old Jarnell Brown of Minneapolis died of lead poisoning after swallowing a heart-shaped pendant on a bracelet given away with Reebok shoes.

“Before voting last week to bolster safety inspections on imported toys and other children’s products, a number of Republican senators, including Minnesota’s Norm Coleman, first voted to water the proposal down.”

S.F. 1858/H.F. 2100, prohibiting the sale of children’s products containing bisphenol-A or phthalates, have been introduced in the Minnesota House and Senate. Updates as they are available.

Legislation has been introduced to measure students’ BMI (body mass index) in public schools. Since BMI is not an accurate measure, of, well, anything, I’d say we spend the time helping kids learn something instead. (via MNspeak)

Consuming Imagery: An audio slideshow with Brian Ulrich, from Paul Schmelzer. Ulrich is a featured artist in the Walker Art Center exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes. My new BFF Melby is moderating the free Thursday Night Panel (sponsored by some local corporation, can’t recall its name just now) on April 24.

The story on Procter & Gamble’s Beinggirl.com just keeps getting worse.

First of all, I found out the reason the story about the article that promotes eating-disordered behavior to young girls got to Kate Harding in the first place was because a reader’s daughter had received the P & G-sponsored pamphlet in school. The pamplet directs the girls to the website.

So not only does P & G get the luxury of a captive audience, they can then guide the girls to more advertising — and to destructive misinformation.

The discussions that the girls are having in the comment sections are just heartbreaking. Many talk of wanting to lose weight (even in discussions on other topics) or about how they have tried purging or stopped eating altogether. They ask each other questions and give each other advice.

Shouldn’t there be an adult or health professional monitoring these discussions to offer help or to direct the girls to resources?

And why are the girls allowed to post their email addresses? 

The rest of the site is not unlike the fourth-grade pamphlet we received in school from the makers of Kotex: parts seem to be written thirty years ago. From Shaving 101:

Shaving isn’t what it used to be. You have things your mom never did, like multi-blade razors that help prevent nicks and cuts. And shave gels that leave you silky smooth and soft.

And from Cosmetically yours:

It wasn’t long ago that being blond was brassy, only a certain kind of woman would dare to paint her fingernails, and your mom would spit into her cake mascara.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t have to spit into my mascara, and I never saw my mother do it, either. 

There’s also a hair care product selector. See how easy it is to choose a product based on, um, what you need?

Long Term Relationship Collection
Body Envy Collection
Drama Clean Collection
Set Me Up Collection

Beinggirl.com may be a source of some good information for young girls, but how do you know where your daughter will end up on the site? 

And the fact that the offending article is still on the site today is just plain irresponsible.

Pass this information along to every single teacher and parent you know. P & G should not be allowed to promote eating-disordered behaviors to a captive group of girls in our public schools.

And contact P & G through beinggirl.com and ask them to take the article down. It’s the very least they can do.

A Procter & Gamble-sponsored website is promoting eating-disordered behaviors to young girls who “use food to provide the good feelings [they’re] missing.”

Even though P & G assures us moms that Beinggirl.com is a “safe, credible and private” source for information, I certainly won’t trust anything on the site after reading What Does the War Have to Do with Your Weight?

. . . With half of Americans already fighting the battle of the bulge, and over a third of Americans classified as obese, it’s important not to let our emotions contribute to bad eating habits that will only promote even more bad feelings. Here is some advice from the experts about what to do when you’re tempted to use food to make you feel better. . . .

5.  Post-It notes are great for reminding you of the right thing to do. Stick them on the bathroom mirror, on the inside of your locker, on your computer. Be creative with your reminder. “How hungry are your really?” “Exactly why are you eating that now?” “What will the scale say tomorrow morning?”

Emphasis mine, and that’s just number 5. In Call for action: Site for adolescent teens promotes eating disorders, Rachael at The F-Word reviews P & G’s suggestions and tells us how they contribute to disordered eating. She also says:

Look, it’s one thing to encourage people to examine the issues affecting their food choices, but these are young, impressionable girls who are at the ripe age when most eating disorders develop. If a girl truly has a problem with emotional eating, chances are, she isn’t emotionally prepared to handle it herself. The site suggests professional help only as an afterthought, and nowhere does it encourage girls to talk to their parents or a trusted adult.

The article doesn’t say who these “experts” are, but it sounds like advice gathered from some product managers sitting around in the P & G lunch room.

Read the post at The F-Word to find out how to contact Procter & Gamble.  

You know, I keep hoping to find one of these corporate-sponsored “girl” sites that truly acts responsibly. I suspected that wouldn’t happen at a site like Beinggirl.com, which is

a place where girls can come together to learn, share, communicate with each other and have loads of fun

and

the place to be for the hottest free samples from Always and Tampax. . . .

Big Liberty takes a closer look at other sections of Beinggirl.com and finds even more! misinformation to confuse young girls on health and diet.

No matter what they say, the P & Gs and Unilevers of this world will always choose profit over our children’s best interests.

Tell Nationwide Children’s Hospital: No Naming Rights For Abercrombie & Fitch

RE: the Abercrombie & Fitch children’s hospital wing: We learn from today’s New York Times article that there is a difference between selling naming rights and naming something after a corporation that donates to you.

Uh-huh.

We also learn that the lobby of the new Nationwide Children’s Hospital Emergency Department and Trauma Center will be named after Limited Too and Justice retail chains.

Interesting.

The Consumerist illustrates what the new hospital wing might look like, as does Reality Rant.

Commenters? Before writing with creative suggestions on relocating my family to South Korea, please take five minutes to read the reasoning behind the request for the hospital to reconsider the name of the new wing. Thanks.

Related posts:
Sexy Teen Retailer Bad, Lead Toy Maker Good
Abercrombie Name Should Not Be on Children’s ER
Abercrombie Presents the Hottest Emergency Room for Children Ever (Hey, Gawker, if you’re going to reference my post):

. . . . judging by a 2006 Salon profile of the company they are probably right. In it, Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries defended thongs for middle school girls, which had been imprinted with statements like “Eye Candy” and “Wink Wink,” by saying “You know what? I still think those are cute underwear for little girls. And I think anybody who gets on a bandwagon about thongs for little girls is crazy.” . . .  After the jump, an outraged anti-Abercrombie letter signed by 16 “advocacy organizations” and “about 800 Ph. D.’s,” according to one of the signatories.

why not share the link?

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio is considering giving naming rights for its new emergency department to Abercrombie & Fitch.

You read that right.

You know, a hospital? Where they care about children’s health? A lot? And you know, Abercrombie ’n’ Fitch? Where they don’t so much?

See, in the Abercrombie ’n’ Fitch world, the sexualization of young girls leads to fun, fun, more fun, and then, happiness! And not to depression, eating disorders, and sexual problems when they become adults.

You may remember the A ‘n’ F little-girl-thong fiasco? CEO Mike Jeffries, in a Salon interview, says he thinks that the thongs made for middle-school girls with “Wink Wink” and “Eye Candy” printed on them were “cute!”

“People said we were cynical, that we were sexualizing little girls. But you know what? I still think those are cute underwear for little girls. And I think anybody who gets on a bandwagon about thongs for little girls is crazy. . . . ”

Ohhhhh-kay. The interview continues:

. . . . when I ask him how important sex and sexual attraction are in what he calls the “emotional experience” he creates for his customers, he says, “It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”

 I wonder it that would go for the children’s emergency room, too.

Parents for Ethical Marketing, along with 15 other advocacy organizations and about 800 Ph.D.s have signed on to a CCFC letter asking Nationwide Children’s Hospital not to sell the naming rights to Abercrombie ’n’ Fitch.

Information on where to sign on to the request will follow.

Related from Bob Garfield: Abercrombie Underwear Shop Plays Up Goods, But Not Its Own

Anastasia at YPulse has an interview with Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, about digital media and kids. It’s not all bad, he says, and for now, I am inclined to believe him. Can’t wait to see the results of their research.  

Taking a short break from blogging — be back next week.

How to Inoculate Your Children Against Advertising. One mom’s account of media education in the home. 

Corporate marketing v. individual choices: who is responsible for our good health? From Mark Sisson’s Daily Apple.

More on the power of parent blogging: Mother’s Blog Spawns Investigation Into Unsafe Car Seats 

An alternative to buying Disney bath toys: Free bath toys await in your toybox, kitchen, and garage. One of many great parent-reader ideas from Parent Hacks.