What girl from the 1980s didn't love Lisa Frank? Her cool colorful creations filled my sticker books throughout the '80s. Images of funky unicorns, rainbows, hearts, music notes, psychedelic teddy bears and lightening bolts all in very trippy color schemes--lots of bright shades of pinks, blues and reds. I just adored her!
I was shocked to learn two things about Lisa Frank stickers via a quick Google search. I was pleased as punch to see she continues to design stickers for today's girls, but saddened to hear that in 2001 she was fined $30K by the FTC. Apparently she was unaware of the federal law in collecting address data from children without parental permission.
From 1999-2001, I worked as a copywriter for an interactive advertising agency targeting the youth market ages 13-30. We were extremely careful about how we went about collecting personal statistical information from kids for large corporations such as Esprit and Nokia. We had to be.It was around that time in 2000, that the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) act went into effect altering the ways corporations are permitted to gather addresses and other information from kids online.
When I was 13, I sent away for catalogs, offers and deals on my favorite beauty products and more. I never bothered to ask my folks first. But I know it's a different world today. I understand how it appears uncool for companies to ask kids for their info, but honestly the sole purpose behind this was purely from a marketing standpoint to hit them with offers and discounts--not to maliciously harm or injure.
I loved stickers so much as a little kid - this is the inside of my 3rd grade diary.
23 comments:
That's so sad that Lisa got such a bum wrap. She definitely is a class A sticker artist. Don't tell anyone, but I had a sticker album when I was a kid. Googly-eye, puffy stickers ruled!! Yes, I was (am) a level 1 dork!
I still love stickers! I'm just a big kid really, but I'm totally with you on the age of some of these young people who write to companies.
For a while, I was a member of E-Pals, which is a pen-pal scheme that is still going today on the Internet, and I was shocked to find that some of these kids were as young as 8 years old, looking for someone to chat to on the net!
I looked into this further, and found that there was no one who actually checked anyone's profile, and that anyone could just join in two minutes...all it took was a password.
It is terrible to know that there are all these children that are so lonely, that they risk almost their lives in order to chat to anyone who can say that they too are only 8 years old too!
There are some really sick and twisted people out there, and I think that there should be a law saying that they must be 18 to be allowed on these pages.
That is just my little vent!
some of those stickers really bring me back! next time i go to the 'rents i'll have to dig mine out. fer sure!
Fer sure! It's horrible that Lisa Frank was fined, but she had to have made billions from those stickers. Everybody loved those stickers!
I was more of a scratch and sniff man myself, but like CopyBoy, I had quite the extensive sticker collection.
I used to collect stickers when I was a kid. Aw I had books full of them!
Kate x
PS: I've left a little something for you over at my blog:
http://search-for-the-perfect10.blogspot.com/2010/03/ray-of-sunshine.html
I loved Lisa Frank! She even made some jewelry beads and I wore them proudly. :) As a copywriter myself, I know how crazy some corporate laws can be, it's sad that she got such a bad deal.
How I forgot about stickers, I'll never know. My favorites were the jelly ones, with the movable goo in them. What a world it was, trading stickers! EXACTLY in fourth grade too. Came over from Perfect 10's award blog. Congrats!
That does suck! But its good to see she's still kicking out the stickers for a whole new generation!
And who doesn't love going to the quarter machine to get a sticker out. My daughter loves it!
Oh yeah I loved Lisa Frank stickers and all! And I love that her products are still out there -I often see them in Dollar stores-etc-even. That's too bad about the legal situation though.
I have always been a fan and a collector of stickers. I have a couple of sticker books fro my childhood. They don't make them like the use to!! :(
I found you through "Friday Follow" and decided to follow your blog through Google Friend Connect. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Come and visit us when you get a chance! Happy Blog Hopping! <3
How times have changed. Growing up in the 50's my sister replied to an advertisement in either a child's magazine or comic book to sell greeting cards. The cards arrived and she didn't sell them. After a while the company wrote a threatening letter and my mother packed them up and sent them back. She was furious with my sister, but the company sent them to a kid!
I loved the Lisa Frank stuff -- especially anything with unicorns!
I was a total Lisa Frank sticker collector! Wow, what a flashback to think about the albums and boxes I had full of stickers!!!
Oh my, I totally forgot about those until just now! The world of stickers. There were just so many to choose from, all with different colors and designs. *sigh* Those were the good old days. Maybe I should start adding them to my work folders for a little color transformation!
I guess I can see the point about the law, but it does seem a mite crazy as well.
http://lifebeginsat30ty.blogspot.com
I just love you for this blog - thank you for the memories!!
I was a sticker-a-holic. Loved her stickers.
Whoa. That's terrible that that happened. I didn't know she was a real person, either, actually. Anyway seeing these pics so brought me back!
I used to LOVE those stickers and pencils and notebooks. It's too bad she ran into some trouble.
We can't have stickers in my house now. My kids will stick them to any and all surfaces.
I loved stickers too! Thank you for the flashback.
I LOVE your Fer Sure sticker! Amazing!
NOOO! Not Lisa Frank! That is so sad. I remember when I was in like 3rd or 4th grade I got a Lisa Frank 3 ring binder. The trapper keeper kind. Oh it was the coolest thing I took to school all year.
I loved those stickers!
I so loved Lisa Frank, too. There is a picture of me on my first day of first grade with my backpack, hideous plaid jumper uniform, saddle oxfords, and Lisa Frank ballet slippers folder.
I still have my stickerbooks from the 80s. I loved trading stickers with my friend. I even have a stickerbook nowadays. Just found your site- I definitely will be reading more of your posts even thought it will take me a while.
Lisa Frank is awesome! I always wanted a LF Trapper Keeper but had to settle for folders.
I remember I had a subscription to American Girl Magazine and you could send off a self-addressed envelope and a sheet of info about you then they would send the info on to another girl and send you her info. It was so fun and I still have all my letters from that pen-pal...most on LF stationery.
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