This video takes skipping rope to a new place, the streets.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OiCYNDNV9k]
A few weeks ago, I saw this music video starring young kids entitled “Tweenchronic-Skip Rope” on my Facebook timeline. Noticing that it was produced/directed by the same idiot, who worked on Rebecca Black’s “Friday” viral video, gave me no hope that this was going to be a quality sound or video. Bring on the cheese please!

What I got was far from cheesy but rather disturbing. Frankly, this video is an example in my opinion of child exploitation. Let me explain.

The video opens with two young girls, Allison and Stacey, dressed in what I would classify as trendy urban chic. They say they’re going to teach us how to skip rope. Seems harmless enough, right? Wrong. Not long after the first verse, a boy with a stick-on mustache enters the video as part of the b-roll. He’s standing on the corner with his pockets overflowing with large candy bars and bags of pixie sticks. OK this is getting realllllly inappropriate. Then, it gets worst.

I guess during all of this skipping rope dance action, girls can work up a sweat, so that means a quick run to the local convenience store to grab their favorite can of what looks to be Arizona Ice Tea.  This tea, they proceed to drink out of a brown paper bag as if it were booze, all the while skipping their imaginary ropes. Cool…? The candy dealer continues to deal and the producer of this cluster gets his time in the spotlight with his cameo. Creepy.

Sure, taking a song about skipping rope and turning it into a video that’s about drug…err I mean candy dealing and booze…err Arizona Tea drinking. What’s wrong with the director of this video and for that matter the PARENTS of these children. What makes this OK?!?!

I’m not a parent, and I hope not to be for quite awhile, but how does a parent go, “oh this video looks like a great idea”…were they even on the set of this shoot? Parenting in this digital over commercialized era is the hardest its ever been. But one thing a parent has the ability to control is the whereabouts of their child when they are under the driving age. What sports they participate in. What dance classes they attend. And I don’t know, maybe the YouTube music video shoots they are appearing in. To those parents, I shake my 20something finger at them and say “shame on you.” But I guess there’s always a chance those parents are younger than I am. But that’s a whole ‘nother blog post.

The End.