With only a handful of “fans” needed so I can secure a URL for PEM, Facebook showcases its behavioral marketing genius:

Ooh, I want to click that Get More Fans button!

If it’s hard for me to resist, can you imagine how a child’s underdeveloped brain reacts?

If you’re on Facebook, please consider joining — or asking a friend to join — Parents for Ethical Marketing. Don’t make me click that button.

Princess Culture Marches On at Gamine Expedition. The latest research and commentary by author Sara Grimes on princess culture and kids:

. . . the connections between princess-style narcissism and subjectivities of consumption is fascinating, by which I am referring to the bit about girls being taught that they are the “centre of the world” but also that their position as such is mediated through (or even dependent on) the consumption and display of commodity goods (clothes, accessories, etc.).

BPA Industry Manipulates Scientific Studies at MomsRising.org. It’s a sad truth: ” . . . anyone with an agenda can find research to support that agenda.” Sadder that industries fund “research” in order to continue meeting their profit margins at the expense of our health. Sound familiar, Minnesotans? Last year our Governor Pawlenty vetoed legislation to remove harmful chemicals from children’s toys based on his review of such research. Fortunately, then-President Bush signed federal legislation into law shortly after that.

New Legislation Regulates Tobacco Marketing. We’ll see how it is enforced. From The Center for Media and Child Health.

Are you on Facebook? So is Parents for Ethical Marketing! And did you know that you can start a discussion, post links, comments, and events and share your thoughts about marketing to kids on our Facebook page? Now, you can also read blog posts from Corporate Babysitter. It’s a great place to share with other members. Please join us!

The staff here at Parents for Ethical Marketing is thrilled that Michelle Obama is pissed off at Ty, makers of Ty Girlz Dolls, after the introduction of their newest products Marvelous Malia and Sweet Sasha:

“We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes,” Obama’s press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said in a statement yesterday.

We feel it’s inappropriate to change the likeness of a seven-year-old girl into a teen-like doll with breasts.

Ms. Obama, give us a call. We’ll talk.

Isn’t this better than a Top Ten list? Ranked by number of pageviews:

1. A thousand words: Not a post at all; rather, this was an image that first appeared in Feministe. Most hits came because it was linked to in a book review on Salon.com. The photo of the Hooters girl in training toddler-sized t-shirt elicited a collective wtf? heard round the world.

2. Target Corporation assumes feminism is dead; dismisses bloggers and

3. Why the Target “snow angel” ad matters: Bringing the discussion back to parenting and corporate responsibility: Two posts I have no desire to revisit here, after all, it’s New Year’s Eve and there are some things about the year I’d rather forget. But hey, it got me on local television (and therefore lots of hits) and put Target on its own top five list by Joseph Jaffe. It’s been a year since I’ve stepped foot in a Target and I haven’t missed it a bit.

4. Children’s online virtual worlds create dull mini-capitalists: A personal favorite. Hits came mostly from web searches on children and virtual worlds. Got the attention of The Guardian’s Aleks Krotoski. Hoping it affected at least some parents’ views.

5. Helping kids see past commercialism: Another wonderfully written, informative, and helpful post. But I didn’t write it. Tiffany at Nature Moms Blog did. Her original post also has one of the best photo-illustrations I’ve ever seen. Thanks, Tiffany, and hope you got as much traffic from your post as I did.

I also took a quick look to see the top corporate or public relations visitors:

1. Target Corporation
2. Edelman Public Relations
3. Carmichael-Lynch
4. CBS Inc.
5. Procter and Gamble
6. Disney Worldwide Services
7. Kellogg Company
8. CBS Corporation
9. Scholastic Book Fairs
10. General Mills

All in all, a good year for Corporate Babysitter and Parents for Ethical Marketing. Thanks for being a part of it!

Thank you so much to all who have sent your kind words, both public and private, regarding my recent life changes. Your encouragement, understanding, and thoughtfulness have been invaluable.

Two weeks down at the new job and all is going well. Really well. The work is tiring, though, not yet as energizing as calling out unacceptable corporate behavior on a daily basis. (Not as fun, either.)

Recent lack of blog posts, however, has more to do with the Christmas holidays than it does the new job. It’s always a busy and somewhat stressful month. I was successful, though, in keeping the girls away from the toy catalogs, out of the stores, and concentrating on our handmade Christmas cards and a couple handmade gifts. We’re all aware of how different this holiday will be from past years — as it will be for so many families — but it hasn’t dampered anyone’s spirits.

Thanks again for all your support and if you are celebrating a holiday this month, I wish you the best of luck in avoiding the commercialism and embracing your family, friends, and all that is good in your life.

I’m firing myself as executive director of Parents for Ethical Marketing.

If you’ve been following the progress of PEM, you know that my plan was to get nonprofit status so I could apply for grants and raise funds in order to have a real budget — including a salary.

But as for so many others right now, the economy has gotten in my way.

In our home, our primary source of income has been from twenty years’ of real estate investments. And reinvestments. And that’s not going so well right now. Among the obvious problems, like declining home values, we mistakenly thought that new home construction would be a good investment.  And one of our many mortgage brokers turned out be corrupt. It’s not been a good year.

And as for my fundraising efforts? I really haven’t been surprised by the response. People have little money to donate now, and those that do are giving to charities with more critical missions. PEM is not going to be on the top of anyone’s giving list.

For these reasons I am returning to real world of work with a very real paycheck. I am very fortunate to have found a job that’s a good fit for me. I will miss working in my jammies but will enjoy the company of co-workers again.

So what does this all mean for PEM? Several things. I will not be able to commit so much time. For now, I am giving up the newsletter and the prospect of taking the show on the road to parents on any regular basis. The blog will remain, although posting will be more infrequent.

And what does this mean for you? If you’re on the mailing list, I hope you’ll stay. I will still send out action alerts when necessary. And perhaps a special edition newsletter now and then. Plus, I have things you could do. If you have any interest in writing posts or contributing your talents and time any other way, please drop me a line.

Otherwise, I hope you’ll continue reading Corporate Babysitter.

The economic pinch couldn’t come at a worse time for those of us with children expecting a normal gift-laden holiday. Tomorrow, Friday, I’ll be interviewed on how to handle the onslaught of holiday advertising by Minneapolis Community and Technical College librarian Ginny Heinrich. MCTC’s BlogTalkRadio show, Our View from the Park, begins at 11:00 a.m. Central time. It’s a call-in show, so if you have questions or just want to say hi, call (646) 200-4753.

I’m thrilled to be included in a segment of the Montery, California radio show Fathers are Forever. The segment will examine the sexualization of children and what parents can do about it. It will air live tomorrow night (Friday, September 5) from 7 to 9 pm (Pacific). You can listen to the show here.

I’ll be following Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne, authors of So Sexy So Soon.

Hosts of Fathers are Forever are dads Rocky Snyder and Steve Ashley, founder of the Divorced Fathers Network.