The love-fest for Sesame Street is all-encompassing this week, as the show marks it’s 40th anniversary. Pardon me if I sit this one out. I was a toddler when the show began; and watched it on and off as a young child; then later as an older sibling (suffering through, pretending not to like it); later as a babysitter; and eventually as a mother.
As a child I enjoyed the light-hearted skits, especially the songs, but as a mom I am utterly disappointed in the company. My sons inherited a few Sesame Street videos and they watched them occasionally as three and four-year-olds: Elmo at the Fire Station was a favorite of theirs, I’ll admit. And just a year ago I discovered a cassette tape of Sesame Street alphabet songs that my sons and I listened to over and over again for about a week last winter, enjoying the energy the songs injected into our day.
However, I truly believe that Sesame Street has completely taken advantage of parents whose trust they have earned over the decades. Sesame Street has perfected the art of cradle-to-grave marketing. Their characters adorn countless products. A Google search for “Elmo toys” alone resulted in over 1,500,000 matches. Many of these are ridiculous, expensive and unnecessary toys, such as “Elmo’s Tickle Hands – Press Elmo’s nose for tickle or dance modes”, on sale at Walmart for $27. The Sesame Street characters sell anything you can possibly imagine, from pajamas to fruit snacks, and add to our culture of consumption. I’ve come to expect it from Nickelodeon, but from Sesame Street? Come on. Enough’s enough.
What really gets me worked up, however, is the line of baby videos and DVDs under the “Sesame Street Beginnings” name, which was launched in 2006. These videos, marketed for babies (ages 6 months and up), are an underhanded way of indoctrinating our youngest citizens into Sesame Street nation. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen-time for children under two years old. There is just not enough information yet about the potential harmful effects of screen-viewing on developing brains. These videos are for parents and babies to view together, but I wonder how many people actually watch with their babies. Why couldn’t Sesame Street stick to audio tapes and CDs for families to listen to together? Why promote screen-time? It just doesn’t make sense – unless Sesame Street is actually just trying to establish a viewing habit in the upcoming generation.
Ugh. I hate to be a party-pooper, especially since Sesame Street has done some good things. I love seeing the star clips (my favorite might be James Taylor singing “Jelly-Man Kelly”) and kids of all shapes, sizes, colors and abilities. I just wish Sesame Street hadn’t cashed in on their trust in such a shameless and harmful way.