Have you ever watched American Idol and noticed that the judges are always sipping soda from ginormous Coca Cola cups? Or maybe you’ve seen an episode of The Biggest Loser and noticed that the trainers go from talking about cooking healthy to suddenly pitching the virtues of a brand of ziploc bag that allows you to steam your veggies to perfection. In the hit comedy 30 Rock, the characters are over-the-top in their endorsement of Verizon, and in an episode of 90210, Dixon once turned to Annie and said, “Maybe if you stopped drinking so much Dr. Pepper!” to which Annie replies (while holding up a can of Dr. Pepper), “We’re on a road trip! Drinking Dr. Pepper is practically a requirement.”

What I’ve just described is called product placement. It’s the “new” way of advertising since companies are having a harder time getting audiences to notice their products in traditional commercials thanks to TIVO, HULU, On Demand, and the like. And it’s this type of advertising that is explored in the just-released documentary, POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

The film was directed by Morgan Spurlock (the guy behind the film Supersize Me – another must see), who takes us deep into the marketing machine for film and television to show the viewers just how much “selling” goes on behind the scenes of everything we see on screen. The movie makes the case that pretty much everything is for sale when it comes to finding ways to advertise a product.

By the end of the film, Morgan has secured sponsorship from more than a dozen brands, including those you can see tattooed on his body in the movie poster here. In exchange for financially backing the film ($25,000 for a small mention to $1 million for the name sponsor, in this case, POM Wonderful, a pomegranate juice), Morgan promises to promote the products throughout the film. For example, he only wears clothes from sponsor Old Navy, drives the official movie car, a Mini Cooper, and exclusively drinks POM Wonderful.

The result is a funny, eye-opening film which sheds light on how advertisers and marketers try to get at us, the buyer, in any way possible. It’s a great reminder that as viewers, it’s our responsibility to realize that we are constantly being marketed to, courted, and manipulated in advertisers’ attempts to get us to buy their products.

So definitely see this film if it comes to your town…it’s worth the watch and I guarantee, you’ll never look at a movie or TV the same way again! (And that’s a good thing!)

PS… don’t believe me that everything is for sale? The small town of Altoona, PA has sold its naming rights to the film. For the next 60 days, Altoona, PA is now officially “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, PA”!

PPS…Here’s the trailer for the movie in case you’re interested in learning more (and no, I was not paid to endorse this movie!):

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Trailer from POM Wonderful on Vimeo.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m dealing with a challenge or situation where I feel I need more support, my first step is always to turn to a book. I believe in the power of stories to help readers better understand difficult issues, get insight into how to face them, and most of all, realize that they’re not alone. It’s that belief that led me to create the Louder Than Words series of teen-authored memoirs dealing with serious issues.

In this same vein, The Inspire USA Foundation, which created the youth mental health site ReachOut.com, has just released a list of recommended YA fiction dealing with the serious issues that many teens today face. Their goal? To promote positive mental health and build awareness of ReachOut.com as a resource for teen and young adult readers of popular YA fiction.

And for teens wanting to virtually connect with others struggling with the same challenges, Inspire USA is hosting a series of live author chats on Ustream through May (Mental Health Awareness Month), hosted by the fabulous YA author and Readergirlz Diva Melissa Walker.

And without further ado…here is the list of recommended reads, organized by topic!

• Bullying: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010)
• Depression: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (Hyperion, 2006)
• Eating Disorders: Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
• Helping A Friend: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (HarperTeen, 2003)
• Manic Depression/Bipolar Disorder: Nobel Genes by Rune Michaels (Atheneum, 2010)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Pena (Delacorte, 2005)
• Schizophrenia: A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler (Flux, 2010)
• Self Harm: Cut by Patricia McCormick (Front Street, 2000)
• Suicide: Hold Still by Nina LaCour (Dutton, 2009)
• Abuse: The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006)

What will it take for Abercrombie & Fitch to stop its obnoxious and offensive practice of oversexualizing young girls and women and generally encouraging low self-esteem and body image everywhere? First we had the t-shirts that said things like “Do I Make You Look Fat?” and for men, “Female Students Wanted for Sexual Research.” There are the Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly catalogs that were full of so many nude bodies one would be hard-pressed to actually identify any clothes they might want to purchase. Remember the catalog cover in 2002 that had the words “Group Sex” splashed across the cover? Classy! (Not!). Or how about the time they decided it was a good idea to produce thongs for young girls. Oh, and then there was the employee who was banished to the stock room where she wouldn’t interact with customers, as it seems her prosthetic arm didn’t fit the “look” of the store’s brand.

So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised with Abercrombie’s latest, and perhaps most offensive, turn. Padded push-up bikini tops for tweens. That’s right. Now second graders can wear bikini tops that will make them look “sexier.” SERIOUSLY?

There are so many things wrong with this that it’s hard to know where to start. But here are just a few obvious problems. ONE: Girls, no matter how old they are, should not be treated like sex objects. TWO: Sexualizing young girls encourages boys and men to see these young girls as sexual objects. THREE: Padding bikini tops for young girls sends the message that they should grow up faster. FOUR: Padding bikini tops for girls sends the message that their bodies aren’t perfect and beautiful just the way they are.

Here’s what child psychologist Dr. Michael Bradley had to say on ABC News when asked about the impact of Abercrombie’s latest fail:

“We’re actually teaching them that this is their primary value in this culture, that’s what they’re all about. We’re shaping their behavior. We find that kids that get into this stuff do get into high risk early-onset sexual behavior. We whack their body image. We tell them “You’re not okay as you are. You have to use this kinda stuff”. Finally, we’re taking their childhoods away from them. At age eight we throw them into this pressurized, high anxiety world they’re not ready to handle and we think it’s part of why we see so much depression and anxiety in kids.”

So, I ask again…what will it take for Abercrombie & Fitch to stop this harmful practice of pushing the envelope at the expense of young girls and women? Hard to say, especially when the company’s profits jumped 95% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

We can boycott the store, for starters. And then we can tell everyone we know to boycott the store. And then we can sign petitions like this one over at Change.org that tells Abercrombie to stop selling padded bikini tops now.

What do you think? Do these padded bikini tops send the wrong message? What do you think is the most effective way to get Abercrombie to change their tune?

I love this story about freestyle soccer sensation Indi Cowie. Indi is considered to be one of the best female freestylers in the world, which means she can do amazing moves like the “Head and Foot Stall,” “Lemmens Touzani Around the World,” and the “Vee Stall” better than most. When she was only 10 years old, she could juggle the ball more than 2,000 times without it ever touching the ground! (You can see her doing these moves and more on the video below.)

Indi is a brilliant soccer player in her own right, and she trains and plays with a boy’s team because the pace is faster and she believes it will help her be the best soccer player she can be. And what I love most about this story is Indi’s attitude and approach to honing her craft. She practices at least 90 minutes a day – bringing her training to her personal indoor gym (a.k.a. her garage) to practice her freestyling tricks over and over until she gets them right. Her commitment and dedication to being her best is inspiring…she has a goal and she puts in the time and energy to reach it.

Watch this video from the New York Times below and see if it doesn’t leave you feeling more inspired!

I wrote yesterday’s post about this being National Eating Disorders Awareness week a few hours before taking my six-year-old son to see the new animated kids’ movie, Gnomeo and Juliet. This rated G spoof of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, though occasionally violent and sometimes off-color, was fully aimed at kids.

So you can imagine my horror (and yes, it truly was horror) when during a scene in which Juliet, the heroine of the movie, was standing on her best friend’s back (a frog) to catch a better glimpse of her love interest (Gnomeo), the best friend spoke these words:

“You know he’s going to ditch you when he finds out how much you weigh!”

Wait a sec…had I heard that correctly? I did a double take and looked around the theatre. Happy little faces, mostly of girls between the ages of four and ten, stared gleefully at the screen. I guess the more important question was, had they heard that?

“You know he’s going to ditch you when he finds out how much you weigh!”

And that’s how it starts. A little line from a movie, a thoughtless commercial, a mother’s look of disapproval at her own reflection in the mirror, magazine ads, billboards, snide comments…they all add up. The seeds are planted and bit by bit, word by word, message by message, girls slowly internalize the notion that thin is good, thinner is better. That thin will bring you happiness, love, approval, and worth.

And it’s messages like the one in this movie that contribute to these very scary statistics:

• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
• 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets

So my question to the writers of Gnomeo and Juliet is this … REALLY? The best you can do to try and elicit laughter from an audience full of children is to deliver a fat joke? The best you can do in your attempt to be funny is remind girls that their weight matters when it comes to getting what they want in life?

Next time, how about trying smart humor? You know, the kind that isn’t offensive and makes the audience actually feel good about themselves making their ribs ache with laughter?

And the next time? Remember that every word counts.

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, a special week aimed at preventing eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment.

The theme for this year is “talk about it.” As the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) explains, “We live in a culture saturated with unrealistic body-image messages and almost all of us know somebody struggling with an eating disorder. Because this is true, we urge you to talk about it and do just on thing to raise awareness.”

Here are three things NEDA wants everyone to know about eating disorders:

1. Eating disorders are serious illnesses, not lifestyle choices. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, biological and social factors. As our natural body size and shape is largely determined by genetics, fighting our natural size and shape can lead to unhealthy dieting practices, poor body image and decreased self-esteem. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are about much more than food. In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Approximately 15 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder.
2. Education, early intervention, and access to care are critical. In the United States, we are inundated with messages telling us that thinner is better, and when we “fit” our culture’s impossible beauty standards, we will be happy. Did you know that 80% of all ten year olds are afraid of being fat? As a culture, it is time for all communities to talk about eating disorders, address their contributing factors, advocate for access to treatment and take action for early intervention.
3. Help is available, and recovery is possible. While eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses, there is help available and recovery really is possible. It is important for those affected to remember that they are not alone in their struggle; others have recovered and are now living healthy fulfilling lives. Let the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) be a part of your network of support. NEDA has information and resources available via our website and helpline: 800 931-2237.

* * * * *

If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, please check out my friend and fellow member of the Confidence Community (TM) Johanna Kandel’s book, Johanna struggled with her eating disorder for ten years before finally getting help. She founded the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness in 2000 to do community outreach, education, awareness, and prevention of various eating disorders, to share the message that recovery from these disorders is possible, and make sure that those suffering from eating disorders don’t have to recover alone.

In her powerful new book, Johanna offers tools and insight for those with eating disorders so they can:

• Stop self-sabotage and sidestep triggers
• Quiet the eating-disordered voice
• Strengthen the healthy, positive voice
• Let go of all-or-nothing thinking
• Overcome fear and embrace change
• Stay motivated and keep moving forward

Complete with inspiring true stories from others who have won their personal battles with eating disorders, this book provides the help you need to break free from your eating disorder and discover how wonderful life really can be.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, last week I celebrated the release of my first novel, ! Language of Love was originally slated to be part of Simon Pulse’s popular Romantic Comedy series (see the original cover on this version that was supposed to come out last June!), but due to changes in the publishing industry and how bookstores are buying books, Simon Pulse decided to create beautiful 2-book collections of romantic comedies (I say beautiful because look at what a great job they did with my cover!).

My book was paired up with Caroline Goode’s novel Cupidity to create the collection Love, Love, Love, which, as the back of the cover describes, contains “Two sweet stories about finding your one true love.”

Last Wednesday, I gathered a bunch of people together at indie bookstore Secret Garden Books in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle for a night of trivia (a quiz on romantic comedy movies filmed in Seattle), treats (heart-shaped Peeps, cupcakes, and more), and a reading. The turnout was great, and I was especially grateful for the support of some of my fellow YA writers in Seattle, all superstars in their own right, including Kevin Emerson (creator of the Oliver Nocturne series) and three fantastic Readergirlz Divas, Martha Brockenbrough, Holly Cupala, and Liz Gallagher (that’s a pic of me with Holly and Liz below). You can read Liz’s coverage of the book launch and enter to win a free copy of Love, Love, Love over at the Readergirlz blog here.

I’m doing a blog tour on some fantastic YA book review sites in the coming weeks. To stay up to date on the tour, read my guest blog posts, interviews, and have more opportunities to enter and win a copy of Love, Love, Love, !

XOXO Debbie

Hello Smart Girls,

Along with the rest of the country, I’ve been reading, listening, and watching coverage of this past Saturday’s tragedy in which a 22-year-old opened fire on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her staff and supporters – an event which left 6 people dead and 14 wounded – with horror and sadness. That such terrible acts of violence happen at all is incredibly disturbing…it’s the kind of thing that shakes you up to your very soul.

In the days since the shooting, the media and certain politicians have been dissecting the event, trying to make sense of what happened, looking to place blame, to answer unanswerable questions. If you’ve been paying any attention to the media coverage, you’ve probably heard about the hot-button issues currently being debated: the “crosshairs” on a certain map, the hostile and threatening language used by both politicians and some in the media, and whether or not the shooter was politically motivated or just plain crazy.

I think it’s important to examine these different issues, so we can look at them through a different lens. So here goes.

Let’s start with the “crosshairs.” The crosshairs refer to symbols displayed on a map of the United States on a website operated by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The site, which was taken down within minutes of the shooting, was called Take Back the 20, with 20 referring to the 20 House Democrats who voted for Obama’s healthcare bill in districts that Republicans won in the 2008 election. At the top of the map it said, “We’ve diagnosed the problem. Help prescribe the solution.”

Since the shooting, pundits have been going back and forth discussing these crosshairs, saying they weren’t representative of a gun. Rather, they were “surveyor symbols” or symbols sometimes used on maps. Others claim they were simply “bullseyes.”

I understand why some people are denying these were crosshairs. I get it. But even that the symbol is unclear means many will and did interpret it as a crosshair in a weapon. After all – a commonly accepted definition of a crosshair is: “A set of two perpendicular lines in the sight of a firearm, used to align the gun with the target,” not to mention the fact that Sarah Palin is a life-member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun-rights advocate, and has famously said in one of her speeches, “Don’t retreat….reload.” Do I think that Sarah Palin was advocating the shooting of politicians who voted for Obama’s healthcare plan? Of course not. Do I think that it’s okay to use symbols of violence or imply that weapons should be used as tools to advocate for change? Absolutely not.

Let’s move on to the hostile language used by some politicians and media pundits. Name calling, put downs, and threats are so commonly heard on the news that it doesn’t even make many people blink. Whether it’s Sarah Palin encouraging her supporters to “stop cars with Obama stickers” and confront the passengers or Glenn Beck saying he wishes he could kill liberal filmmaker Michael Moore (“I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it?”) or Keith Olbermann calling the Republican party “the leading terrorist group in this country.” At what point did it become okay for adults, grown people with high-powered jobs and matching salaries, to use hate speech? How in the world does this contribute to society in any way, shape or form?

Lastly, we look at the shooter himself, 22-year-old Jared Loughner. As details about the young man emerge, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that this is someone who is mentally unstable, someone who had a personal vendetta with the Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords. Therefore, many say, he was a ticking time bomb, and no hate speech or symbols on a map are responsible for pushing him over the edge. While I agree that there is no way to know what triggered Loughner to snap and take his horrible action, it would be naive to assume that the current political climate didn’t play any role in contributing to this young man’s state of mind.

Okay. Let’s shift gears for a minute. Think about your high school or a school in your community and ask yourself these questions:

• What would happen if a student posted yearbook photos of kids or teachers from his or her school with crosshairs strategically placed over some of the faces? Should school administrators look the other way and act as if this isn’t a threat of violence?
• Should a student running for student government be allowed to call his or her opponents hateful names or give campaign speeches encouraging supporters to take violent action to ensure the outcome they want?
• Should a student be able to say anything he or she wants about another student, even if it makes that person feel depressed, sad, threatened, or ostracized, and claim they have the right to do because of freedom of speech?

Of course not. That’s because to use language or symbolism that is meant to make another person feel threatened, insecure, or negative in any way is called BULLYING. We don’t stand for bullying in our schools and communities among children and young people. So why should we stand for it among our elected officials and the media that we go to as trusted sources of information? What kind of behavior do such high profile pundits and politicians think they’re modeling for the rest of us? Don’t they know that by behaving in such an irresponsible way they are sending the message to young people everywhere that this is the way the world works? That while bullying may not be okay in school, it’s the way to get ahead in real life?

With regards to the Giffords tragedy, the finger pointing and blaming and justifications and back-peddling continues. I’d like to encourage those in positions of power, whether in politics or the media, commit to doing their part to change the climate we live in. To own their role in the discourse. To realize the tremendous responsibility they have to be thoughtful with what they say and how they act.

Last year, Marianne Williamson wrote a piece on the Huffington Post called a Plea to Sarah Palin: Words Have Power. Here’s some of what Marianne wrote in April 2010:

I have defended you since reading the book, particularly when others would make fun of your comments about looking to God’s Will to guide you. But something is happening now that is so critical to this country, with such genuinely significant repercussions, that I implore you to hear me — not just as a fellow American, but as a sister who I know prays to the same God that I do: Words have power. Please modify your words.

To echo what Marianne says, words DO have power. Every word we use has an impact. The way we act has an impact. Our impact can be positive or negative, depending on where we stand, but it will contribute to what’s happening in the world in some way. Please join me in committing to using our words and actions to creative positive change.

Courtney Macavinta, my trusted friend, fellow-author, and founder of The Respect Institute (an institute providing youth, parents, educators, policymakers and organizations with the vision, tools and research they need to build self-respect and spread respect for all), says it beautifully:

“Disrespect is truly contagious. It’s easy to insight each other to be disrespectful – and even hateful towards others – because it momentarily makes us feel bigger, stronger, better than others. Pay attention to how the feeling quickly fades. It does so because it’s false power. The power of respect is so much stronger and sustainable. It creates bridges, solutions, and healthy relationships where they didn’t exist before. But true respect starts on the inside. When you take accountability for how you think about yourself, how you treat yourself, and how you treat others, you can change the world for real.”

With peace & love,

Debbie

A little more than a year ago, MTV launched its “A Thin Line” campaign – an initiative aimed at stopping the spread of abuse in the form of sexting, cyberbullying and digital dating abuse. The campaign hopes to empower America’s youth to identify, respond to and stop the spread of the various forms of digital harassment.

A Thin Line is built on the understanding that there’s a “thin line” between what may begin as a harmless joke and something that could end up having a serious impact. MTV hopes to spark a conversation and deliver information that helps young people everywhere draw their own digital line.

To move this mission forward, MTV is looking for young people between the ages of 14 and 29 with experience in social media to be members of its A Thin Line Street Team, otherwise known as campaign ambassadors. Here are the kinds of things A Thin Line Street Team members will do:

• Help drive conversations about the impact of digital abuse in the lives of young people on the campaign’s various social media outlets, including the website, Facebook and more.
• Spread the word about the campaign among schools and communities to help people feel empowered to recognize and address digital abuse.
• Provide input to the A Thin Line to ensure the campaign is reaching the audience in the best way possible.

Interested? Here’s what you need to do: send answers to the following questions (no more than 500 words total) with the subject line “Street Team” to . MTV will contact you by phone or email to let you know if you have been selected.

• How old are you?
• What grade / year of college are you in?
• Where are you from?
• What is your gender?
• Why do you want to be a Street Teamer?
• What would make you a great Street Teamer?  Have you done any work related to digital abuse? If so, have you worked with any other organizations?
• What ideas do you have to extend the reach of A THIN LINE and make it more effective?
• What is your email address and phone number?

Good luck!