Earth to Bush: Luring babies to screens is not heroic

[roody]

CCFC to President Bush: Luring Babies to Screens is Not Heroic

 
BOSTON - January 25 - The following is the statement of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in response to President Bush using his State of the Union address to promote the Baby Einstein video series. During his speech, the President lauded Baby Einstein’s founder, Julie Aigner-Clark, as an example of the “the heroic kindness, courage and self-sacrifice of the American people,” and described the success of Baby Einstein in detail. In 2006, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint against Baby Einstein for false and deceptive marketing; that complaint is pending.

It is extremely disappointing that the President used his State of the Union address to provide a free infomercial for a company built on false and deceptive marketing. Despite its claims, there is no evidence that watching Baby Einstein videos is educational for babies and toddlers.

The President maintained that Ms. Aigner-Clark “represents the great enterprising spirit of America.” We respectfully disagree. We don’t believe that preying on parents’ concerns about their children’s well-being; deceiving customers about a product’s benefits; or exploiting our youngest and most vulnerable children should have any role in the American marketplace.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0125-05.htm

[roody]

1. worth a read

[JackRiddler]

2. K&R and here's a related thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x30113

Baby Einstein is evil and no surprise that it's also Republican

Videos for 1-2 year olds, under whatever guise ("education") is evil.

Something many people understood when first confronted with Teletubbies, but apparently they fall for the "Einstein" sell.

Excerpt:

CFCC Complaint to FCC

In May, 2006, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a lawsuit and a complaint to the FCC against the makers of Baby Einstein and similar series geared towards very young children. They cite false advertising by these companies, due to the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that children under two do not watch television <2>, and a study showing that only 6% of parents are aware of the recommendation, <3> <4> yet 49 percent of parents think educational videos like these are very important in the intellectual development of children.

----

Sadly most of the responses in that thread were supportive of the idea that it's okay to train toddlers to watch TV at an age when they otherwise show little interest in it. Hey it's only bright shapes and it's educational and it's "interactive." Several lumped me in with Jerry Falwell and what not.

[Bobbie Jo]

3. A hero to * no doubt.

She found an easy way to make a buck. Rates right up there with Superman and the American Way. :eyes:

[SoCalDem]

4. I clicked this thinking it was about all the photo-ops he has with unsuspecting babies

who usually cry and cringe when he touches them :)

But I agree.. babies need the sound of their mother's voice, not a blaring TV :)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. I have never seen one of those tapes

They supposedly have classical music on them. But I don't like the passivity of parking them in front of the TV when they are real small.

Being a music freak, I took my kid to the opera to see Hansel and Gretel when she was three. She was fascinated. Then later she saw The Magic Flute, Babes in Toyland, and Porgy & Bess at the opera. All of them were in English and had Surtitles to read along, if you were old enough to read.

Our yuppie neighbors with the W stickers on their SUVs have two little kids. I suggested that they take them to the Opera christmas show of Hansel and Gretel and they blew me off. Muffy said that "Oh yeah, somebody else suggested that too." I guess I should have just told them bluntly, "They won't be upperclass unless they know about culture." Our neighbors think we're a disgrace because we don't have Hispanic yard men manicuring the lawn to within an inch of its life. We do our own yardwork, and it does not look perfect.

When my kid was five, she was fascinated with listening to the original 14th century version of Carmina Burana (not the Carl Orff version) by the New London Consort. Pre-baroque music. I'm not sure why. She was also exposed to the Beatles, Pat Metheny, Rachmaninoff, and various other forms of what I consider good music. She doesn't play any instruments but she at least has a trained ear for good musicians versus incompetent ones. She also loved watching Sesame Street when she was a bit older than toddler age.

She did go thru a Rammstein phase.

Now she likes Matishayu the rapper.

[upi402]

6. Didn't the crook, Neil Bush, have some business along this line?

I have a faint recollection of Neil Bush getting into a business like this.