So here I am, finished with my morning proctoring at the school and kicking back at my desk with my Whole Foods salad while catching up on my favorite blog reading...
...When I found this post on the BlogHer site by Mommy Blogger Jenn Satterwhite (Mommy Needs Coffee).
Actually, Jenn is writing about something she read on yet another blog: Mom101, which deals with an online game targeted to pre-teen girls, called (are you ready for this?) The Hookup. Liz of Mom101 describes it as "some kind of lo-tech Sims-meets-Mean Girls kind of thing." She quotes the ad copy for the game:
The ad featured a well-coiffed but bookish teen (you can tell the nerdy girls by the glasses, you know) explaining that her time in the library will give her a chance to come up with a rumor to start about Amy "because I need to get my flirt on with Justin and she needs to back off."
Then the announcer copy goes on to say: "The Hook-Up. A game of charm and treachery and deceit. Where you do whatever it takes to hook up with your dream guy. So go ahead. Be as flirtatious and manipulative and outrageous as you want to be. No one has to know."
All I can think to say about this is: Un-fucking-believable. Jenn and Liz are outraged, and so am I. Are these the values we want to instill in our preteen daughters? This is wrong on so many levels. I am writing to MTV Networks (of which Noggin is a part of) and parent company Viacom -- whoever I can think of to protest this stupid, irresponsible throwback of a game.
MTV Networks
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 258-8000
Viacom
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 258-6000
I would write more on this right now but I can't because I'm viewing this from an LAUSD computer and they've --rightfully!-- blocked the website in question.
