The conflicting teen sex messages of Candie's

Creepy much? Via Hollywood Life

Teen fashion brand Candie's seems to want it both ways. On one hand, they sell the idea that teens can look sexy in their clothes, featuring provocative images using young spokespeople like 16-year-old Disney Channel actress Bella Thorne, above.

At the same time, their Corporate Social Responsibility arm, Candie's Foundation, is an organization that seeks to prevent teen pregnancy by preaching abstinence. They've also been heavily criticized for using celebrities to shame teen mothers.

In fact, their whole plan is to instil a fear of pregnancy in teens. From their web site:

Our campaigns are making a difference. Research has shown that teen girls who have been exposed to the foundation and its messages are more likely to view teen pregnancy and parenthood as stressful and negative, and they are more likely to be skeptical of the media's portrayal of teen pregnancy and parenting. They also think teens should wait longer to have sex than girls who are not aware of the foundation and its messages.

There's something quintessentially American about a brand that sexualizes young girls, then tells them to suppress their sexuality or risk ruining their lives.

Interestingly, even the right-wing blowhards at Fox News see an issue with this.

Fox 411 quotes Katie Yoder, of the socially conservative (read: Fundamentalist Christian and anti-choice) Culture and Media Institute:

Candie's isn't selling clothes, it's selling sex and teaching young girls to act seductively. Thorne sends the message that being feminine has nothing to do with being genuine and that confidence means popping your hips and shaking your butt.

When both bleeding hearts like me and the One Million Moms brigade actually agree, you know there's a problem. Although I doubt we see it the same way.

I have nothing against teens expressing their sexuality among their peers. I just think they need the right information and support to do it safely, to avoid exploitation, unplanned pregnancy, regret, and the threat of rape. Candies wants girls to feel like sexual objects by buying their clothes, but also wants to terrify them out of actually acting on that agency by threatening grave consequences.

This is no way to raise a generation of women.

Candie's Foundation gets spanked by activist moms #NoTeenShame

The Candie's Foundation recently launched an anti-teen-pregnancy campaign in which a who's sho of Millennial celebrities  — Hayden Panettiere, Carly Rae Jepson, Hillary Duff, Lea Michelle, Fergie, Vanessa Minillo, Ciara, Teddy Geiger and the band Fall Out Boy — tell teens how much parenthood sucks.

According to Feministing, the campaign has really offended the Strong Families Movement for its shaming approach towards teen pregnancy. Allied blogger Natasha Vianna puts it plainly:

At the age of 17, I gave birth to a little girl. When the Candie's Foundation launched a teen pregnancy prevention campaign with the tagline "You're supposed to be changing the world... not diapers," I was outraged by their attempts to shame young parents. Although I was changing diapers at age 17, I am changing the world – and so are Lisette, Consuela, Jasmin, Gloria, Marylouise, Christina, and so many other young parents like us across the country. Our activism has been shaped by our experiences as young moms; we are working to change the world because we are young parents.

The organization has launched a petition to Candie's and encourages the use of a hashtag, #NoTeenShame, to draw eyes to the cause.

This controversy is similar to what happened when NYC's Human Resources Administration put up ads  in which young children shamed their teen parents about getting pregnant.

The problem lies in the strategy of shame. This is an organization that previously used wealthy teen mom (and born-again abstinence advocate) Bristol Palin as a spokesperson for what a burden young parenthood is. They describe themselves as " a non-profit organization that works to shape the way youth in America think about teen pregnancy and parenthood." 

And sex:

Research has shown that teen girls who have been exposed to the foundation and its messages are more likely to view teen pregnancy and parenthood as stressful and negative, and they are more likely to be skeptical of the media's portrayal of teen pregnancy and parenting. They also think teens should wait longer to have sex than girls who are not aware of the foundation and its messages.

But where does that leave the teens (especially girls) who have become pregnant? Ashamed, if the campaign has its way with them. But even if their own feelings of self-worth are not important to you, do you actually think that teens are unaware of the fact that unplanned pregnancy is a big deal? 

It would be really refreshing to see someone pony up for a pleasure-positive, choice-positive teen sexuality campaign that helped young people get and use contraception without vilifying those who do not, and who decide to have a baby. The Candie's Foundation's pro-abstinence stance reflects a conservative culture of sexual shaming, in which people who consensually give in to their natural curiosities and pleasures are seen as morally weak. (And the shaming can affect victims of rape as well.)

As much as I don't want to be a grandparent too soon, neither would I want to raise my young son to believe that teen parents are lesser people than him. Not only for their sake, but possibly for his own. 

F'd Ad Fridays: Brought to you by the people against teen sex

Ah, the virgin/whore conundrum. Where would American culture be without it?

Candies, the people who brought you Bristol Palin's awful "don't get teen preggers like me!" ad would like you to know that teenage sex is bad mmm'kay? But having a former Disney teen star (known for her full-frontal sexting shenanigans) strip down to her gitch to sell underwear is just peachy keen.



(Flash only, sorry)

Well isn't that special?

Cloning the talking baby

A few months ago, I blogged on Osocio about Bristol Palin's PSA for the Candie's Foundation, an American not-for-profit that tries to show girls the realities of becoming a teenage mom.

Now there's a new spot out with Bristol's endorsement, although this one is less about comparing her wealthy life to that of poor teen moms. Instead, it steals E*Trade's talking baby concept (which itself was an old idea) to demonstrate what a tyrant a baby really can be:



Mind you, teen parenthood is a very serious issue, and I hope this PSA convinces a few girls (and boys!) to take steps to avoid it. But it's always a shame when lazy ad people waste an opportunity for originality by ripping off a well-known idea and then doing a poorer job of it.

I do, however, love the line "and you thought your parents were controlling?" coming from the daughter of someone who almost became Vice President of the United States.