Despite the totally hip vests and fashionable shoulder sashes, membership in the Girl Scouts has been steadily falling in the U.S. in recent years. So, last year the Girl Scouts hired Laurel Richie, a former senior partner at Oglivy & Mather, to reinvigorate the G.S. brand, and now she’s bringing the change. The cookies will stay (I know you were all concerned), but merit badges, those once-coveted little circles of poorly embroidered crud, are on their way out, as are the old scout manual, moms as troop leaders for teens, and the outdated worries about keeping scouts off the Web. In fact, the new G.S. has teamed up with Microsoft to create LMK, a nifty little social-networking site where girl scouts can socialize and plan scout activities. They also hired Grupo Gallegos to focus on recruiting more Hispanic girls into the scouts, as only 6 percent now are Hispanic. I remember my dorky Girl Scout days fondly, and think if they want to be hip they should drop the apron/sash/vest thing and change their name to something like The G Scouts. Or maybe just focus on more street-wise lessons, like how to recognize counterfeit bills.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers