Thursday, September 27, 2007

"Hey, I want that"

If you'd asked me a couple months ago about the Disney Channel I would have been happy about it but if you'd accused them of commericialism or high-and-mighty-ism I would probably have heartily seen your point.

No longer.

Abby has abandoned the Disney channel in favor of Nick Jr. Now, nothing against Nick Jr.'s SHOWS but there are these little things called 'commercials' before and after the shows that are a new, fascinating, tempting world for Abby. The Disney channel advertised McDonalds or that vacation company. Sure, now and then Abby might be more likely than not to ask for McDonalds, but it wasn't terribly plantive.

But with these standard commercials (which she wouldn't want us to skip through) there is a four minute interval at the beginning and end of each show in which we hear "Hey, I want that." "Hey, I want that!" "Hey, I want that!" and every once in a while, "Mom, I really really want those monkeys that shiver down the tree."

I have chosen not to put a big stop to this.... YET. After all, she's just saying these things look great. She doesn't beg for them (except for the Dora Mermaid DVD that I got like a sucker BEFORE I saw a commercial that its going to be on TV). So I just agree that I see why she would want that or say that I see that she wants it or whatever and she drops it.

But the repetition may eventually drive me insane. So, I'll find a nice way to curb it.

Oh, how I long for the subtle (I don't care if its more devious) marketing of the Disney Channel... high and mighty though they may be.

4 comments:

Dave said...

*beaming with pride*

Juliana Shain said...

Funny you should mention this, because this is EXACTLY what my brother does for the Disney Channel. Those sneaky little commercials are called "Innersticials." For instance, "Mike's Super Short Show." What a funny little mini show that Mike and his sister do, talking about the newly released Disney DVD that you MUST HAVE. But they clothe it in a mini-show. Apparently, the FCC has strict restrictions on how you advertise during children's programming. Thus, they come up with very creative ways to couch these ads into programming.

Anyhoo, interesting stuff.

Lori said...

Rachel is into all of it - Disney Channel, Nick Jr., Noggin, PBS Sprout - but fortunately, we have a ton of shows available "On Demand," which means we either have no commercials, or one short one before the program starts. I've started trying to fast-forward even through that one commercial since Rachel was able to finish the sentence on a Huggies training pants commercial, but the stupid Comcast system then won't stop when you tell it to and skips over part of the show's theme song. Because Comcast is evil and wants to force you to watch their commercials. Even though you're already paying them for their programming. Bastards.

Ada said...

Very interesting, Julie, he does good.

Dave... Yeah yeah. I can't even be mad at you since you are only responsible for a show she wants to watch, not the commercials.

Lori... anytime anyone uses *bastard* in their comment, they automatically win.