[rant]

Well, the marketing folks at “Gossip Girl” are back with another tweenerporntacular campaign. Using excerpts from reviews as headlines. Ooh. Provocative. Yippee.

I don’t care that it’s effective. In fact, I’m more upset about it because it is. It’ll get more kids to watch a show with no redeeming social value whatsoever. Great. I know, I know. “If you don’t like it, turn it off, dude.” Shut up. Seriously, just don’t give me that argument or the one about parents needing to keep tabs on what their kids are watching. Yes, I can turn it off. Yes, I’ll be doing my best to always know what media my kids are ingesting. That doesn’t mean I should sit back and simply ignore garbage like this – silence is tacit approval. And it definitely doesn’t absolve the producers from responsibility. The old “we wouldn’t make it if no one wanted to watch it” spiel doesn’t fly with me, either. Pimps and dealers can say the same thing.

See, sometimes it’s not about being on message, on strategy, on brand or on the cutting edge. Sometimes it’s about considering the impact of what you’re doing will have on its audience.

Sometimes it’s even about putting yourself in the shoes of uptight parents like me.

[/rant]

Later,

Fox