Girl Scout banned from selling cookies on YouTube
I've always been a little suspicious of the Scout movement.
The uniforms. The slightly too correct and frightfully ancient hairstyles of some of the senior members. The Scout Promise that gets boys to promise: "To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." And gets every girl to declare she will: "respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout."
Now these strangely clothed beings have gone a little too far. They have trampled upon Wild Freeborn.
Wild Freeborn is not some secluded territory in the depths of North Carolina. Wild Freeborn is an 8-year-old Girl Scout from the depths of North Carolina.
Her task in these economically difficult times was to sell 12,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Enough, surely, to cause a significant depletion in the population of North Carolina. But let's not inflate that.
Because Wild Freeborn decided to use a little wild, free enterprise. She went to her Dad--no, not Axl, but Bryan--and asked him to help her achieve this monstrous goal. Bryan is a Web designer. Bryan loves his daughter.
So her helped her make a YouTube video in which she coined the memorable line: "Buy cookies--they're yummy."
She sold 700 boxes (at $3.50 each, in case you were wondering).
Of course, there was just one tiny, strangely dressed problem: The Girl Scouts of the USA. Specifically, the fact that the group bans Internet sales.
A representative for the Girl Scouts, Denise Pesich, told NBC's "Today" show: "We want to make sure that whatever the girl is doing is integrated into the program that she's studying. We want to make sure we are in the development stages of a technological platform that will integrate it and be fair and equitable for all girls. But more importantly, it's girl safety at its core."
Pesich acknowledged that she had no fears for Wild's safety because her father was overseeing her effort but insisted she couldn't guarantee it would be the same with all children.
Haven't you ever seen little girls selling cookies with no adults in sight? I certainly have.
Bryan Freeborn believes he and Wild were doing nothing wrong as they were limiting their orders to buyers in their immediate area, so that they could deliver them personally.
"The whole intent was to help my daughter meet her goals, utilizing up-to-date marketing principles," he told the morally straight Matt Lauer of NBC.
But up-to-date is surely not a phrase one could readily attach to all of these scouty people. So now Wild Freeborn is faced with having to sell 12,000 boxes of cookies the old-fashioned way: standing outside supermarkets, staying physically strong, remaining mentally awake, and annoying people into submission. Can this really be "using resources wisely"?
Suddenly, I have decided to give up cookies for Lent. Except Google's, of course. Everyone loves Google's.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
2nd, the true issue here might be that the Girl Scouts (GS) are not integrating enough of the actual Scouts into decision-making activities. In the end, a national group like GS -- like any large, well-known company -- has to take deliberate steps around any major shift in what they do and how they do it. Compliance to a national brand standard and operating principles is a fine expectation. How a company addresses those out of compliance is often the issue -- if this is not handled in a proper customer-service fashion, then those who made the "mistake" (which could very well be a future best practice) feel the need to publicize the "injustice" done to them.
That's my job.
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/samoa-season-in-washington/
That is the last portion of the Scout Oath for the BOY Scouts of America. The minimal research involved in confirming this was one simple and obvious Google search away. I know CNET is just a tech news site, but, c'mon, seriously? Do you do any research? Confirm any factual statements? Have any editors? Or do you just make stuff up?
You may like Google's cookies, but you seem to shun internet searching, since using any search would have quickly revealed your error. A modicum of research seems in order, yes?
At no point did I suggest these words were from the Girl Scouts of America. I wrote, very clearly, 'the Scout Movement.'
As I said, I find ALL of these strangely uniformed beings a little odd.
Chris
As to that 'oath'...... the fact is that morality differs from person to person, it is no business of the Scouts whether I am 'physically strong', and the 'mentally awake' is a hidden slap against using 'illegal' drugs...... which 7 out of the 10 best performing students in my graduation class in high school were known drug users, so.... yeah, I'm kinda skeptical of the worse claims of the anti-drug movement.
The Scouts are an organization that needs to be banished from the world or severely regulated in what they are teaching children about 'morality'. Personally, I taught my children that as long as they are not physically harming someone else/killing someone else, forcing someone else to do something they don't wish to do with physical force or threats of physical force, physically attacking someone else, or stealing from someone else/damaging their property without their permission.... .it's anything goes in life and other people should butt out of your business if you aren't doing one of those 4 things..
However, I find your smug condescending attitude for people who want to be a part of this organization annoying. I just read about an 11 year old girl who was convinced to send nude pictures online to a 25 year old nutjob.
The organization's need to understand the issues involved before they let everyone do what they want is laudable. Better than reacting after something happens don't you think? Or are you one of those that will complain when they weren't prepared?
Kinda nice to feel superior isn't it?
Seriously though, they need to amend their rules to allow it as long as there was appropriate supervision, which there obviously was in this case. I think she should earn merit badges for entrepeneurship and technology. Go Wild!
- by mwill99 March 19, 2009 3:49 PM PDT
- Sounds like you need to rethink your article there Chris. Doesn't show much thoughtful reflection. Just a knee jerk reaction.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(13 Comments)Remove the prejudice (male chauvinism, ageism) misunderstanding of the Girl Scouting goals to promote independence (selling cookies by themselves not having Daddy do it), cooperation and fairness (the whole troop sells cookies not one girl selling 12,000 boxes). Also the organization is non-profit so has to stay within selling guidelines required to keep their status.
And as a voluntary organization they can set their own rules. Isn't breaking the rules and being greedy what we're seeing on the national level in our current financial mess? I don't think they are unrelated.