Oct 28 2009
Disney Company Offers Refunds For Baby Einstein DVDs
When the Disney company made claims years ago that its line of Baby Einstein videos would make infants and toddlers smarter, parents lined up to buy them. The marketing of the DVDs implied that they were educational despite no evidence to support it. In fact today pediatricians recommend absolutely no television for children under the age of 2. In 2006 a group of consumer advocates called the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, brought a Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company, which forced Baby Einstein to stop claiming the videos were educational. But the campaign went further and succeeded in pressuring the company to offer refunds to anyone who bought the videos. A spokesperson for Baby Einstein has responded to the campaign as “a sensational, headline-grabbing publicity campaign that seeks to twist and spin a simple, customer satisfaction action into a false admission of guilt.” The news of Baby Einstein refunds come at a time when a new Nielson survey of TV watching habits in the US reveals that children aged 2-5 spend on average 32 hours a week in front of the screen and that for children of all ages, TV watching is at an eight year high.
GUEST: Josh Golin, Associate Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Find our more about the campaign at www.commercialexploitation.org.
Find out how you can get your refund at http://www.babyeinstein.com/parentsguide/satisfaction/upgrade_us.aspx
2 Responses to “Disney Company Offers Refunds For Baby Einstein DVDs”
I can’t believe that parents who don’t police their own childrens television habits are going to profit from this. I, for one, use my own good judgement when it comes to my childrens television habits, and do not need any organization telling me what to do. My boys loved Baby Einstein products as well as Sesame Street. My 7 year old is in gifted and talented, and makes straight A’s. He is in sports and scouts and, oh my goodness, what’s tv on occasion, and even enjoys a little x-box every now and again. My 4 year old enjoyed Baby Einstein just as much. He reads on a 1st grade level and also plays sports. It is up to the parents to give their children a well rounded existence, no one else. I firmly believe that shows such as Baby Einstein, Sesame Street, and the Leapfrog dvd’s, in moderation, have given my kids a leg up in their education, and the best part is that they believe they are just having fun. I don’t rely on tv to teach my kids, but it makes a great tool in the arsenal of parenting.
Thank you for this story.
Hopefully it’s an eye opener for many eager parents.