Although my husband and I have always been fans of TV and popular culture, we haven't always been fans of licensed characters, especially when it came to our children. When we were new parents, we staunchly avoided nursery decor and baby bedding with Winnie the Pooh or Sesame Street characters on it. We cringed when we saw characters on the disposable diapers. We chose toys that were retro, wooden, and plain. We laughed to ourselves when we spotted parents of toddlers and pre-schoolers who had bought into the licensed character industry, with their character clothes, bags, barrettes, shoes, and toys. But slowly and quietly, the licensed characters began invading our plain, peaceful lives.
Gifts played a major role in breaking us down during that first year of parenthood -- the Disney outfit from my college roommate, the Rock-n-Roll Ernie from my sister, the Blue's Clues toy from our new friends. As Walter grew, he responded more and more to characters, and this is the other major factor that broke us. Seeing your baby laugh and clap in response to Elmo or Ernie or Blue is so exciting to a parent (especially a first-time parent) that you show him Elmo again and again. You show him Elmo when he's on the verge of a tantrum. You tell him Elmo wants him to eat his vegetables. You take photos and video of his happy reaction to Elmo. Soon, Elmo has become your child's addiction. And yours.
By the time Walter was two, he was able to clearly articulate his preferences in licensed characters. This is the stage where Ralph is now, and this is perhaps what inspired me to confess our licensed character sins. Ralph loves Spiderman. He knows nothing of Spiderman the movie or the comic book, but has seen his likeness on enough toys, food packages, clothes, and god-knows-what-else that he points and shrieks "Wiiiaaderman!" whenever he spots him. And I have encouraged this by buying Spiderman underwear, Spiderman Pringles (why? because Pringles were on sale and I was craving salt), and Spiderman macaroni and cheese. I let him play with Walter's LeapPad with the Spiderman book in it. Clearly I am the source of the problem here. I'm a sucker.
So I'm here to reveal my weakness. I like to make my children happy by placing licensed characters into their daily routines -- LOOK! A Spiderman toothbrush! LOOK! SpongeBob socks! LOOK! Disney yogurt! Convenience and low prices play a part in this too, especially at the grocery store. The brand of frozen waffles with Shrek on the package might also be the best deal. The Star Wars band-aids were on sale. I don't go out of my way to buy these things.
To make matters worse, I judge other children based on the licensed characters they are wearing, as if they're gang colors. When Walter was in pre-school, kids with Pokemon or Power Rangers always raised red flags with me, but Star Wars and Spy Kids were good. Girls with Disney Princess obsessions still make me nervous, but with a Kim Possible t-shirt or a Powerpuff Girls backpack she can win my approval.
So here's a little peek into our licensed-character-laced existence. Let's start in the bathroom, where we find Curious George bubble bath:
And Star Wars, um, stuff: 
We have Diego (Dora the Explorer's cousin) on Ralph's new bike:
Ralph has Spiderman underwear. My logic is, if he loves Spiderman so much, he won't want to poop on him:
Walter has Incredibles pajamas:
He puts his dirty clothes in a SpongeBob clothes hamper:
And he takes his lunch in a Monsters, Inc. lunchbag:
Moving on to the kitchen, we have Spiderman mac and cheese:
And this is not just any pasta. It's Disney Borsellini:
Here are fruit snacks that Irwin Mainway would endorse -- edible Legos! Worst idea ever!
Incredibles yogurt smoothies:
Higglytown food storage containers:
This is perhaps another indication that the root of the problem lies with me. These are Looney Toons plates from my own childhood, which we still use:
Shrek on my cereal box:
And lastly, the Flintstones (a classic) and Spiderman on the vitamins:
We were going to be the people who didn't fall for this. We were too smart. Too sophisticated. And look. The licensed characters are all over the house. So how bad is it in your home? Have you successfully avoided the theme-park atmosphere that we have created? Or are you a sucker like me?
12 comments:
I'm a total sucker for the pajamas and the plates and the underwear--they somehow seem more "fun" . . . but I have a tendency to try to make everything fun (which seems like a good idea but quickly becomes a challenge when the khaki pants have to be JUNGLE GUY PANTS . . .) The characters-on-the-food thing is the one that makes me batty for some reason--maybe just because of the cost, I guess. I shop almost only at Trader Joe's in large part because I don't have to fight the "I WANT SPIDERMAN PEANUT BUTTER" up and down every aisle.
Ah, one day when they're all grown up and busy with their own lives you'll be looking back to these days when they wanted their Flintstone Mult-vitamin and cute little Incredibles pjs and smiling.
It's childhood and I don't think you're a sucker, I think you're a mom who is:
1. Eager to see her kids happy
2. Curious to see if the Disney borsellini tastes better than the Barilla tortellini). Does it?
It has been over three years and we have avoidable most all of the branded merch. She liked Sesame Street as a baby and still enjoys her Elmo PJs - but she likes her generic sock monkey PJs better. 'Fun' and 'Happy' are not tied to licensed stuff. Kids will be smiling and giddy at anything and everything if you make it fun and are genuinely excited about it yourself.
We don't even have kids yet and my husband has Spongebob underwear, Scooby Doo plate and cup, and a Superman toothbrush. Oh, and I have a Hello Kitty toothbrush.
I am stunned. I had no clue they even MADE this much crap. I would bet that we don't have much of this stuff in the house at all, mostly because we shop at Trader Joes, where they have their own silly logos. And we're all to grown up for lunch boxes and pajamas, but even when the kids were little, we didn't have much. Always plain lunch boxes, and they had Paddington pj's from England. I think we just aren't disney fans so we never even thought to look for stuff to buy. I dunno...
Margalit, I can tell you that it's gotten much more prevalent in the last 7 years. Our kids are 5 years apart, and there was a very noticable difference in amount of character tie-ins, etc.
Since we don't have Trader Joe's or Whole Foods within 75 miles of where we live, we are stuck shopping at Kroger and similar grocery stores where there is no escaping the character foods.
Let me second the Trader Joe's comment. Even with the TJ "branding" (such as it is), it's not character-based branding.
We don't watch lots of TV, and so I think our children's desire for branded stuff is less.
Which isn't to say that our kids don't know who Elmo is. They know very clearly who Elmo is. They know who other characters are.
But for whatever reason, they've failed to connect characters to unrelated products. (We spent a looong time trying to find a backpack, for example, that didn't have a licensed character on it.) Our daughter may whine for a Barbie-related book (though not Barbie), but has never asked for a Barbie-related pen, or some other doohickey.
Interesting post. It's a delicate balance, I think. My son Henry loves his Seasame Street toothbrushes and Bob the Builder underwear, and I'm cool with that, but sometimes branding does drive me crazy. This week, it's birthday cakes and bedding. Why does all stuff made for kids have to look like a carnival exploded all over it? I refuse to buy Cars bedding, knowing next year when he's into Spiderman he will want all new stuff. Plus, it's ugly. This is where the kids sleeps, for crying out loud. And could we please have options for store-made birthday cakes that don't include neon frosting and plastic toys? I finally found one. It cost me $30!
Even our store brand has Garfield, which comes in handy when buying applesauce...it's much cheaper than Mott's. I don't know, would you like to have the old generic frozen pizza boxes (white with black letters which read"pizza")? I had a Snoopy lunch box, NFL bedspreads, NFL pencils ( I was never so excited to go back to school ), and an Evil Kneevil logo on my bike! I'm glad that they make Batman toothpaste because my son likes to brush his teeth with it. I wish they'd put a picture of Bugs Bunny on a bag of carrots, Spiderman on a bag of peas, and Spongebob on a bag of greenbeans.
I have to admit, I was one of those parents who was NEVER going to buy my child licensed character items. Well, that's been shot to heck. We have it all.
But, what truly freaks me out is faces on things like JayJay and Thomas. Somethings just look clown-scary with faces and I'd put trains and planes in that category. And yet, I find faces are Cars truly delightful.
Great, great post Amy. I was flamed on a message board during my first pregnancy for asking why I couldn't just buy Pampers that were all white. And then...well, the kid likes some of the characters. Not all of them Thank God, but certainly the Sesame Street crew and the Wonderpets and Curious George. I can live with that.
Although I just watched that Higglytown whatever this morning for the first time and I might have to "lose" the tv plug if she gets into that one.
great article
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