Media literacy: How ingredients inside media content wage war on your rational thinking.

Chocolate cake.  Fattening. Lots of sugar. You know, it will destroy your diet. You know why it will. Yet, there it is (or what’s left of it) sitting on your […]

The future of media literacy? “Cause it’s got electrolytes” Why talking points we pick up from media sources to make us smart often don’t. [VIDEO]

What are talking points? Talking points are essentially bulleted ideas; a verbally presented PowerPoint, to make bite-sized arguments that you can easily chew on and mentally digest and remember.  More […]

A call for media literacy: What does a mentally obese world look like? A lot like the one you live in. Here’s why.

We live in an increasingly complex world. More of a data-driven world. A world that, more and more, rewards those who are media literate and can robustly utilize and metabolize […]

Critical Media Literacy Issue: Media consumption in kids is exploding with mental repercussions for your children. Especially for these key groups.

Commonsensemedia.org reports large increases in media use among children without an increase in comparable media literacy skills. With new devices like tablets, phones and multi-use gaming devices, children can now […]

Media literacy lesson: The secret of why negative ads work. And will always be used far more than positive ads.

People hate negative advertising. Or, at least, they say they do.  Yet message consultants like me keep producing them for their political clients and at a ratio 4:1 over positive […]

The Boogeyman. In media literacy, one of media and marketing messaging most persuasive persons. And why less is more in marketing.

Did you ever notice nobody asks what the boogeyman does?  When you parents tell you to watch out for him (I’m assuming it’s a man. Please write me if you […]

Are teachers to blame for leaving us media and message illiterate?

Why teachers may have accidentally made us devalue and more vulnerable to the power of words used in media. You know why I rarely forgot to bring my gym shorts […]