Money Back For Moron Kids

Disney Offers Baby Einstein Refunds

A chastened Disney is offering refunds to consumers who own a copy of the company’s "Baby Einstein" video, bowing to pressure from a parents group that says the video is more likely to turn children into Baby Alfred E. Neumans.

Disney’s move allows anyone who bought a Baby Einstein video between June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009 to get their money back. Alternatively, consumers can trade their DVD in for a Baby Einstein book or CD, or redeem it for a 25 percent discount on future Baby Einstein purchases. The offer is good through March 4, 2010.

For years the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a group fighting to "reclaim childhood from corporate marketers," has said the videos don’t live up to Disney’s promises.

In 2006, the CCFC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging that Disney’s claims about the videos’ supposed educational benefits amounted to false and deceptive advertising. The complaint pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends no TV at all for children under two, regardless of content. The CCFC thus reasoned that the videos may in fact damage, rather than promote, children’s intellectual development.

Susan Linn, a CCFC director and psychologist, said Disney’s latest move is an "acknowledgment that baby videos are not educational." The group’s website calls the turn of events "another CCFC victory" and reemphasized the lack of "credible evidence that any screen media is educational for children under two."

This is great news!

Now nobody can say that my 4.94 year old son's math precocity (will finish 4th Grade level this week) came from those videos he watched as an infant.

It's a shame though that we can't get back all that tuition money from our alma maters.

What about their false and misleading claims to *educating* us?