Many of the marketing firms you spoke with denied that they targeted their products to children under 3 -- but admitted that a lot of kids that age still watch the videos. Is that a cop-out?
It's disingenuous at the very best to say we don't test children, we don't conduct focus groups under the age of 3, or we know that they're watching in record numbers but we can't control that. But that's basically their line.
Even "Sesame Beginnings" products came under fire from a lot of commercial watchdog groups when the company came out with a DVD that said it was for 6-month-olds through adults.
Wait a minute. What's wrong with "Sesame Street"?
Well, when we -- today's parents -- were watching "Sesame Street" as children, we were 4 and 5 years old. That is the target age for "Sesame Street." But what we do now is put infants and toddlers in front of "Sesame Street." Infants and toddlers are almost a completely different species from 4- and 5-year-olds. It turns out that an 18-month-old toddler has as much in common, cognitively speaking, with a 4-year-old as a 15-year-old girl does with a 75-year-old man.
It's complicated for an infant or toddler to process television. When they are put in front of the television, the only thing they seem to be getting out of it in a verifiable way is character recognition. That's why you see babies and toddlers so thrilled when they're at the supermarket and they recognize Elmo. But still, it wears what the marketing industry calls an "educational patina."
What is so awful about character recognition?
The problem is that the great social values that Elmo and the characters on "Sesame Street" teach are lost on children under the age of 3. They get solely a flat, one-dimensional character recognition. And the only other times that children are going to encounter the character are when a company is trying to sell the kid something. You don't see Elmo running around your park. You see Elmo when he's in diapers, when he's on juice boxes, when he's on Band-Aids and when he's on toothbrushes.
But toys have been around a long time. How are these things any different from Shirley Temple dolls and Davy Crockett hats?
Those were never marketed to infants and toddlers. The other difference is that parents in the '50s were much more involved with their children's consumption of media. The family gathered around to listen to the radio or watch "The Mickey Mouse Club." They were gatekeepers.
You also say that this merchandise may hold a generational appeal for today's young parents. Can you explain what you mean by that?
Generation X-ers were often latchkey kids. For example, I often came home before my mom did and turned on the television. And in the '80s, marketers -- together with television production studios -- came up with television shows that were basically commercials. You know, "Sesame Street" aired its first show in 1969 and its characters were really meant to be the village that raised American children. We have a soft spot in our hearts for these characters. So for many Generation X-ers, their happy memories of childhood are inextricably linked with consumer culture.
But a number of groups are countering those consumerist messages -- most notably the American Academy of Pediatrics, which says without apology that there should be no television for children under 2. Why aren't parents listening?
Today's parents want to be as involved with our children's lives as possible. That means more breast-feeding, attachment parenting and volunteering at the school. But everyone needs a break, and instead of just letting kids freak out or complain or whine or cry, Generation X thinks it is OK for them to spend that time in front of the television. Even the naysayers say, "I know that it's not making him into a genius, but at least I can take a shower." And this is really the first generation of parents for whom taking a shower has become a high-stakes proposition.
You have two kids. Did your research change how you parented them?
Absolutely. My daughter -- at age 3 -- came home from school talking about how certain girls at school weren't allowed to play something called the Princess Game unless they had come to school wearing a dress with the colors of a particular Disney princess. It was shocking to me that Disney had penetrated at that level. We hadn't shown her any of the Disney movies.
I said, "OK, if this is what's going on in school we'll get into it." We just did our own study of Cinderella. We went to the bookstore and the library, and it turned out that almost every culture in the world has its own Cinderella story. So we got out "Cendrillon," which was a Caribbean Cinderella story, and "Adelita," which was Mexican, and a Chinese one. Then we got the Disney Cinderella book, then we got the traditional Brothers Grimm. Then we started asking her, How come we don't see Cendrillon on Band-Aids? How come Adelita isn't on any toothbrushes? Then when we went to the grocery store, I'd ask, "Why would they put SpongeBob on that macaroni and cheese? Does SpongeBob have anything to do with that?" We began to talk about how characters are used to try to sell stuff.
Is that a conversation all parents should be having? Or is there something to be said for just leaving kids alone?
Life itself is very stimulating -- children don't need a lot of this extra stuff. Just being with your parents and getting to relax and hang out, or even just sort of sitting in the bouncy seat and watching your mom type on the keyboard as she does her work, or going to the market, or just taking a nap and cuddling, is all the stimulation a baby needs.
About the writer
Helaine Olen is an associate editor at Literary Mama and a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications.
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