Sarah Palin may be running for Vice President but is she any different from the woman who sold the story of her daughter Jamie Lynn's pregnancy to a magazine for $1 million, or from the father that allowed 15-year-old Miley Cyrus to be photographed semi-nude for Vanity Fair supposedly to further her career?

Well, I mean...

Bristol Palin hasn't been the star of a major kids TV show like Jamie Lynn or Miley Cyrus. She has not chosen a life of celebrity. But now, thanks to her mother's decision to accept the Republican Vice Presidential candidacy, her private life — her sex life — is as exposed as if she had long been a cover regular on Star or US Weekly.

Ha! Yes, well...

Seventeen year-old girls are not yet adults... Haven't endless teen movies and TV shows from "Sixteen Candles" to "Gossip Girl" all dealt with these issues of lack of confidence, fear of embarrassment and befuddlement with dealing with the opposite sex?

I guess so, but...

Bristol Palin should have "the protection of her mother right now and not be paraded around as a platform.

That's a quote from Atoosa Rubenstein!

Then she closes with a coherent point. Next time put that part up top, Bonnie.

[HuffPo; pic via NYM]

Lorillard doesn't have to market disproportionately to African-Americans, because the market share of menthols in the black community is already massive. Look at Orlowsky's own math:

The truth is that there are twice as many Caucasian menthol cigarette smokers as there are African-American menthol cigarette smokers.

African-Americans are about 13% of the US population. Whites are about 74%. There are roughly six times more whites than blacks in the US, but only two times more white menthol smokers. Disparity? Duh.

Targeting the youth?

Heavily-advertised Marlboro, Camel and Newport cigarettes dominated the teen smoking market between 1989 and 1996, according to a new study, which found that the percentage of teen Newport smokers doubled during those years.

Newport made its most significant inroads with the white and Hispanic teen market, say Karen Gerlach, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and colleagues. Their study appears in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

Newport cigarettes contain menthol, which may make them less harsh-tasting and easier for experimenting teens to smoke, Gerlach and colleagues say. They also suggest that expanded advertising campaigns may have helped increase the brand’s popularity.

Nobody has to target underage smokers. Target 18-year-old smokers! Their kid brothers will totally pick it up.

[CAOH; letter via Multicult Classics]

• "It's been a tough hop for this caravan of sales crews, though. Winding their way down from California, they lost a few agents. Two were arrested in Albuquerque after they allegedly forced their way into the home of an elderly couple and beat them to death, raping the wife first. A few weeks later, another agent allegedly raped a woman in Claremont, California, so he got picked up, too."
• "In the eight months the Press investigated door-to-door magazine sales across the country, the industry has seen at least three murders, one rape, two attempted rapes, one stabbing, one attempted murder, one vehicle fatality and one attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl."
• Crystal Mathahy (pictured), a 17-year-old in Texas, got recruited to join a magazine crew. An older cousin signed a "permission slip" for her to participate, since her mom was illiterate. She didn't make enough money to eat, and tried to leave the crew, but couldn't afford a Greyhound ticket. Shortly after, the crew's van plunged 80 feet off the side of a mountain, crushing Mathahy to death.
• "[In] Houston in 2005, a sales agent raped a 17-year-old mentally retarded girl who answered the door of the apartment she shared with her mother. To gain her confidence, that agent acted as if he had a disability as well."

Apart from the individual tragedies, the real scandal the story lays out is the blind eye that big players in the magazine industry—including the MPAA, Conde Nast, and many other top-tier publishers—turn to the well-known excesses of the subscription business. That's to say nothing of the financial risks to consumers, like being subscribed to magazines against your will. The whole thing is worth a read.

[Houston Press]

People still profess confusion about which ad man had his way with JC Penney's image, making an unauthorized teen sex ad and submitting it to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Neither the pissed-off retailer nor its apologetic ad agency would name names, and Ad Age yesterday concluded, "Just who is responsible for creation of the ad... is a bit cloudy." But it's not, really. Is it? It's got to be Mike Long, of Epoch Films. Read why, and watch one of Long's other "fake" Penney ads, this one a bit terrifying, after the jump.

In a statement distancing itself from the ad, JC Penney said the spot "was created by a former employee at JC Penney’s advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, solely as an award submission."

Saatchi & Saatchi, meanwhile, said the commercial was "created by a third party vendor." That's probably Epoch Films, since Penney's chief marketing officer told the Wall Street Journal "the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi," as the Journal put it.

So if both Penney and Saatchi are telling the truth, we're looking for a former Saatchi employee at a third-party vendor, probably Epoch Films, where he probably worked on Penney ads.

It just so happens that the man credited with directing the teen-sex spot, Mike Long, is (according to Ad Age) a former Saatchi staffer. He now works for Epoch Films. And his credits there list work for JC Penney.

The only other former Saatchi man credited on the ad, Tony Granger, does not appear to work for Epoch and told Ad Age he "would not have presented" the advertisement. Then he added, "neither would any of the team." Hmm. Granger might want to rethink that, because Long has presented this sort of work in the past. Find below another ad by the rebel director, apparently dating to last fall and also "fake," according to Silicon Alley Insider.

"Long... apparently did these as a giggle," the Insider wrote. Well, not entirely, since Long also has the fall ad listed in his online portfolio on the Epoch Films website (as also stated by the Insider). And some people, at least, appear to have been under the impression the ad actually aired.

Crazy idea, advertising people: Give out awards and list in your portfolios advertisements you were able to convince your clients to actually, you know, run. Or, even better: Let any teenager who can grope his way around iMovie enter your competitions, whether he has customers or not.

Long's fall JC Penney ad:

[Silicon Alley Insider, Ad Age]

From JC Penney:

Regarding your post: Teen Sex Gains Mainstream Approval With JC Penney Ad…

JCPenney was deeply disappointed to learn that our name and logo were used in the creation and distribution of a commercial that was submitted to the 2008 International Advertising Festival at Cannes . No one at JCPenney was aware of the ad or participated in the creation of it in any way. The commercial was never broadcast, but rather was created by a former employee at JCPenney’s advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, solely as an award submission without JCPenney’s knowledge or prior approval.

JCPenney does not approve or condone its content, and we have asked Saatchi & Saatchi to remove the ad from online circulation and to apologize to our customers and our Associates for misrepresenting our Company in this manner.

From Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad agency:

“Saatchi & Saatchi has a long history of producing principled and respectful advertising for JCPenney and its entire client roster. The Speed Dressing TV commercial, which was submitted to the 2008 International Advertising Festival at Cannes, was created by a third party vendor without JCPenney's knowledge or consent. It was produced and released to the public without any knowledge or prior approval from JCPenney. Saatchi & Saatchi did not enter the spot and deeply regrets the message this ad presents. Saatchi & Saatchi apologizes to JCPenney, its associates and its customers. The commercial is being removed from public circulation.”

Tomorrow: "Horny Rogue Youth Couple Commandeered Video Camera, Acted Alone In Teen Sex Production."

[And don't worry, we have the ad whether it gets taken off YouTube or not!]

Because the spot is so well made, and because someone had to enter it it at Cannes, JC Penney is blaming its ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. The ad agency, in turn, is pointing the finger at production company, Epoch Films of New York, which is indeed the listed entrant. There is speculation "the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi."

Since Penney is based in Plano, Texas and sells to middle-American families that were so outraged to see teen starlet Cyrus in nothing but a bedsheet, a lawsuit, against an individual if not a company, doesn't seem entirely out of the question. On the bright side, some swashbuckling video rebel (every company has one!) just launched a promising career in the awards-obsessed ad industry, albeit at the expense of someone else's brand.

The fake ad in question:

[WSJ]

[via Adrants]

"I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed," said Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity."

Somebody arrest that man! But not even Jesus, or a penis, can save us!

"This happens a lot," said Kelsey, author of Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence. "It crosses every racial socio-economic group. Christian kids are doing it. Jewish kids are doing it."

Male teens are also doing it.

Authority figures are flummoxed!

Mark Raiff, a principal at Columbus' Olentangy Liberty High School, said some of his students and their cell phones have caused trouble.

"They don't see anything wrong with it," he said. "It leaves me speechless."

Hundreds of Teens Rally in Times Square to Change Pop Culture as We Know It, Feb. 8

While Presidential Candidates Promise "Change," Thousands of Teens Are Enacting Change and Asking the Candidates to Help

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2008—Representing a movement of more than 400,000 teens, hundreds of teenagers will rally on Military Island in TIMES SQUARE, FEB. 8, 3:30 p.m. ET.

The rally will highlight teens' concerns about the toll today's pop culture is taking on their generation—the largest generation of teens in U.S. history.* The teens oppose the "cool factor" pop culture entertainment associates with substance abuse, violence, premature sexuality, Internet porn and more. The rally, called RECREATE '08, will showcase the thousands of TEEN MANIA teens who are out to RE-create entertainment, fashion, the arts, and the Web into products that build up, not tear down, their generation.

"I want to use film and television to give this generation hope that they can break free from depression, substance abuse and hopelessness in their lives," says 19-year-old Katherine Haller of Baltimore. Haller, an organizer of the RECREATE '08 rally, is currently receiving film and television production experience through Teen Mania's Center for Creative Media.

Fueled by their faith, these Teen Mania teens have sparked a movement of more than 400,000 like-minded teenagers who have gathered at arena events from coast to coast over the past two years to impact pop culture for the good of their generation.

The RECREATE '08 rally in Times Square will feature teens in the act of RE-creating some of their generation's favorite products including:

*

MTV videos
*

Teen-produced TV shows and movie-shorts running on the Panasonic jumbo-tron in Times Square
*

Tag/Graffiti artists
*

Dance and more . . .

CALLING ON THE CANDIDATES
The teens will also issue a list of 8 QUESTIONS for the presidential candidates that reflect their top concerns including: youth exposure to Internet pornography, media glamorization of drugs, sex and alcohol, and the AIDS pandemic.

Following the rally, more than 10,000 teens will gather at New Jersey's Izod Center for a two day RECREATE '08 event featuring: New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Kirk Franklin, the David Crowder Band, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and TEEN MANIA founder, Ron Luce.

[H]ow you feel about it probably depends on whether you are a teenager or a parent of teenagers. I am more than a decade away from being either and so regard myself as a neutral in this debate. Moreover, as an economist, I feel uniquely qualified to opine on why it is happening.

Next week in Slate, Christopher Hitchens makes the case for sobriety.

A Cock-and-Bull Story [Slate]

Over the past few years, CosmoGirl! has subtly but steadily included stories from and about lesbian, bisexual and questioning girls, as well as coverage of LGBT issues amid the more traditional teen magazine fare of quizzes and heartthrob interviews.

A quote from CosmoGirl! executive editor Ann Shoket sums the trend up nicely:

Gay girls are girls too. CosmoGirl! is for all girls. So we include them.

First of all, gay girls are not girls. They're better smelling guys. But more importantly, it's just not the same when Trauma-Rama (or whatever CosmoGirl! calls their rip-off of Trauma-Rama) is filled with stories about getting your period while wearing your new bikini in front of the hottest girl in school. Back to homonormative gender indoctrination that includes unhealthy body images and liking dudes even when they hit you, please.