(That sometimes tends to gravitate towards the I-Really-Don’t-Like-You-At-All end of the scale)
Occasionally, I’ll read Parents Magazine. It’s a little bit too mainstream for me, but it’s the only parenting magazine at the library that stays current in subscription issues. It comes in handy when I just want to flip through something quickly.
As a side note, the library also has a Mothering collection, but that seemed to stop around 2005. A shame, I think. But-that’s a whole other post in itself.
There are several reasons why I have a love/hate relationship with this mag. I love the
recipes and craft ideas. I definitely enjoyed the Groceries Go Postal Review in the November 07 issue. I’ve actually been considering this. I don’t love how incredibly mainstream it is. I wouldn’t subscribe to a magazine that uses Shrek as an advertisement on the FULL COVER of their November 07 issue. That’s a little disturbing to me.
I’m certainly not too thrilled with their Best Toys of 2007 List (Nov 07), particularly when I saw that this made the list.
I have a problem with it. The Smart Cycle is marketed to ‘combat obesity’ in children. Yeah, that is smart marketing. This from Fisher Price, a company that has recalled more than 1 million toys back in August, and the number keeps rising.
Eh…why don’t you have them run around outside? Too cold, weather bad? Puzzles? Reading? Laps around the living room? Also, the fact that it comes with different cartridges portraying ‘their favorite’ TV characters (Dora, Sponge Bob, Barbie, Hotwheels, etc.) is incredible-extreme target marketing. This could well be another post in itself as well….You’d think the TV would be enough…
Another thing I don’t love is their advertising onslaught both in the magazine and on their website. I’m not too keen on advertisements for pharmaceuticals, including Keppra and Vyvacse in a parenting magazine. I’m all for birth control, but Mirena is not something I would ever consider using. Seems as if Parents subscribes to the Medicinal Culture in a way that I just cannot.
Of course, all of this is just my opinion, and perhaps the readers of Parenting Magazine feel the same way about Mothering Magazine. And that’s their opinion.
Still, I don’t see any insane, overboard Shrek advertising between the covers of Mothering Magazine…
Cross-posted from my blog
