And Now, A Word About Sponsors

I have determined why I love the Disney Channel so much. Occassionally my daughter decides that she wants to watch cartoons - which basically means anything animated that she doesn't already know the name of, i.e. Tigger and Pooh, which we watch everyday, is not a cartoon, but SpongeBob, which I can't stand, is. I blame my husband for this because while I never give them a choice and just automatically put on Disney (meaning they wouldn't even know there was other crap out there as an option), he never does, and instead will put on any old cartoon regardless of how terrible or age inapproriate. Anyway, when I can't dissuade her from cartoons, we switch to Nickelodean or Cartoon network. Almost immediately I am bombarded with disgust at how terrible the commercials are - every single one is the most blatant, consumerist junk and you you can just hear it trying to brainwash your kids into begging for these toys. In two minutes last night we saw ads for some tacky, neon hair extension thing, some terrible space props that might have been Star Wars light sabers, and Sketchers shoes, or possibly a video game featuring Sketchers shoes, I'm not sure. These ads (not to mention the primarily lame/offensive shows themselves) immediately turn me into someone who wants to burn the television in order to save my children from its evil. And I am someone who can easily have the boob tube on 15 hours a day. Anyway, I was complaining about how horrible all of these ads are to my husband, and trying to figure out why I don't get any feelings like this when we watch the Disney channel, so today I paid attention. And you know what? I figured it out. It is because there aren't any ads on the Disney channel. Yes, there are breaks in the programs, but all of the commercials are for other Disney programs. For sure, this gets pretty repetitive (I may have to slap someone if the Cheetah Girls say "cheetalicious" one more time), but mainly it's easy to tune it all out without worrying that my kids are being exposed to images of toxic sugary treats and mind melting toys. And for a brand that is seriously consumerist, I think it is pretty surprising. I mean, I haven't been toa store in months that didn't have Hannah Montana plastered all over everything, so it totally wouldn't shock me if Disney used its commericals to hock sheets and lunch boxes. But it doesn't. It doesn't even try to push DVD's of the shows. All we have are simple, cheesy, non offensive children's programs that I am happy to let my kids watch without worrying they are going to be corrupted or turned into greedy monsters, and ads about the programs. Impressive.