Something to cheer about? (personal care products targeting cheerleaders and other high school athletes with product samples and competitions. To me this is definitely marketing creep into schools/school activities. But since it's not going away, coaches should be talking with these students about why companies are inundating them with samples, i.e. marketing literacy. Plus J&J is expanding Clean & Clear for teen girls with "normal" skin, part of the burgeoning tween/teen girl personal care biz) (L.A. Times, reg. required) (Cosmetics Design)
- Trendrr (cool way to track what the internet is buzzing about) (via TrendCentral)
- NPR on Mexican emo bashing (and the homophobia fueling it)
- More than 57 million streams (of MTV's mobile videos. Plus inside "Speedracer's" multi-platform campaign with MTV) (press release) (Hollywood Reporter)
- LG15 lives! (or at least the actress who played Bree does -- starring in a new web series) (NewTeeVee)
- Soulja Boy analysis (pretty interesting article on the Soulja Boy phenomenon with proclamations like "the explosive popularity of that Soulja Boy dance partially reflects a change in how America raises our young") (PopMatters)
- Radiohead remix (latest way Radiohead is engaging with fans)
- Kid safety site boom (U.S. News on the latest launches)
- Kids choose ("Kids Choice" - ratings way up over last year)
- BKFK on a partner spree (the kid idea/inventor site working with Do Something, Weather Channel, CosmoGIRL! and more) (press release)
- UK tweens on MySpace (we knew this, now there's research. Plus a nice commentary in response to the TIME.com piece on fearing UK youth called "Hoodies" or "Goodies" basically arguing for the grey area in between) (UK Guardian)
- Tokyo Girls (the fusion of fashion and phones. Plus Solitaire, the girl game? Online card game gets a fashion spin)
- College students plea for cash (in a ugc contest from UPromise. Plus professor leaves when students text in class creating controversy) (via AdRants) (Inside Higher Ed)
- And finally, on the heels of the buzzworthy blog Stuff White People Like (is Stuff Jewish Young Adults Like. Oy.)
Posted by anastasia
Campus Marketing | Education | Hispanic Youth Marketing | International | Marketing | Music | TV | Tweens | Web
Comments
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This is not a new practice at all, back when I was going to cheer comps 8 years ago product placement was rampant. Just wanted to point out that most competitions aren't run specifically by or for schools since cheer usually falls out of the "sport" category . . . and of the kids quoted in the article, the only squad identified was an all-star squad -- which is private and not related to school at all.
I would hope that any school-run competitions would have stronger rules against marketing to students. (Thanks for indulging the ramblings of a former cheer magazine editor!)
And for what it's worth, is this practice really much different from Tampax providing "period kits" to schools that teach about puberty in their early sex ed classes?
Posted by: Meredith | April 3, 2008 7:53 AM
Hi Meredith! The article also talked about male athletes and Old Spice:
Old Spice sent to 5,000 high school football teams 100 samples of Red Zone brand body wash and deodorant as well as Old Spice body spray as part of its National Red Zone Player of the Year program.
And I'm pretty sure P&G is also targeting cheerleaders at school.
As I said, it's not going away...you can read my opinion of the "period kits" here.
Posted by: anastasia | April 3, 2008 8:06 AM