Baby Einstein

Sara Mead asks:

Am I the only person who found it odd and somewhat unseemly that the President of the United States used a portion of his State of the Union Address to essentially advertise a line of baby toys? Does this mean they qualify as being based in scientifically-based research? (Cuz I'm skeptical: more TK)

This actually seems like a promising endeavor. How to close the gap between the 16 percent of GDP that the GOP is willing to take in in taxes and the 25 percent of GDP that the country needs in spending? Mark Schmitt says you need higher taxes than that, but this is desperately inside the box thinking. Figure the government can run a deficit of, say, four percent of GDP safely on a sustainable basis. Then all you need is an additional 5 percent of GDP in product placements. It's not just State of the Unions, it's those backdrops for normal presidential speeches, it's that seal on the podium, the wings of Air Force One, the sides of USPS trucks, everything. If public transportation authorities can sell advertising, why not the whole federal government?

Comments

Just wait until the State of the Union Address next year, in the Year of Depend Adult Undergarment.

Posted by david foster wallace | January 24, 2007 9:13 AM

Ahh, that does not appear to be the text of the SOTU. Something odd going on there.

Posted by cervantes | January 24, 2007 10:50 AM

LOL--If I were the owner, I'd be terrified that my product was just endorsed by a guy with a 28% approval rating. Nixon Flakes, anyone?

And, even worse, endorsed by a guy who's notorious for being pretty stupid. Is their new slogan "Buy Bush-endorsed Baby Einstein, and your kid will be a proud C student!"

LOL.

Posted by anonymous | January 24, 2007 11:06 AM

Theoretically that may work. However, haven't we learned a very hard lesson about injecting corporations into government? And it would be corporations that would want advertisting and it would be the very same corporations that would fight like hell to keep on advertising. In addition, do we really want worry about advertising products that are bad for consumers?

Posted by Joe | January 24, 2007 11:13 AM

I just assumed Ms. Clark must have been a terrific fund raiser for Bush and was the closest thing to a philanthropist his staff could locate on short notice. I'm not familiar with either her product line or her work on missing children, so it isn't that I suspect her of seeking a "product placement" -- only that this administration is unlikely to have thought of spotlighting her in this way unless they wanted to reward a valuable supporter.

Posted by STS | January 24, 2007 12:05 PM

It's like Idiocracy. Funny.

Posted by chad | January 24, 2007 1:26 PM

Sara is not alone, and maybe W is planning on selling his stock but wants to create a short-term buying interest/frenzy in the stock before he does so.

Posted by Jimm | January 24, 2007 1:40 PM

Also-- a tax on bribes would, potentially, produce quite a bit of revenue.

Posted by MattF | January 24, 2007 2:12 PM

Auction of the names of the months and days of the week - who wouldn't want to be more Turkmenistan?

Larry Ellison would likely kick in a couple billion all by himself.

Posted by theCoach | January 24, 2007 2:14 PM

Damn, I never could finish that book... but precient. I'd personally love to see that Geiko Gecko CGI'd in over the Veep.

Posted by not david foster wallace | January 24, 2007 2:20 PM

Placing Disney/Baby Einstein next to Laura will certainly be regarded as a huge missed opportunity. The White House should have featured Eli Lilly's CEO in support of the Cialis product line. Because gayronteed, this administration ain't gonna be getting it up again.

Posted by On the Clock | January 24, 2007 3:32 PM

OMG--It's 'Brought to you by Carls Jr' from 'Idiocracy'. All over again. 'My friend, the Senator from Boeing, now has the floor.' Also references to Neal Stephenson's 'Snow Crash', a favorite of mine. Read it.

Posted by VJB | January 24, 2007 3:51 PM

and then they could sell the names of things like ... years. a company could sponsor an entire year. then we could have The Year Of Glad, and The Year Of The Trial Sized Dove Bar. and then we could learn to play tennis, and get bored with it and make up a new game called Eschaton. and then David Foster Wallace could write a book about it.

Posted by cleek | January 24, 2007 4:00 PM

R U Sirius and THE REVOLUTION® are way ahead of you on this idea.

Posted by Jonathan Korman | January 24, 2007 4:23 PM

You're missing the truly outside of the box idea, Matt...

It isn't product placement that will make up the deficit. The idea is that you can run up bigger deficits now, if by at the same time using Baby Einstein toys you make the next generation 5% more productive. This increase in future GDP makes up for the current deficit.

Posted by adam | January 24, 2007 4:41 PM

Was the Baby Einstein mention a payoff to Disney for "Path to 9/11"?

Posted by Nellcote | January 24, 2007 4:46 PM

Still inside the box.

The president just called for the creation of 4 or 5 new divisions. Sure, we could dredge up a bunch of old meaningless numbers, but that doesn't make any money.

Now, if you let the free market bid on naming those division - that's big time revenue. The Tostitos Armored Division has got to be hundreds of times the value of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (or whatever it is now). And thats 20000 people proudly displaying your brand name on their uniforms every single day - liningup behind the president for photo ops, or firing a Tostitos branded Abrams at a terrorist village for the nightly news.

And lets face it... the Exxon 82nd Airborn division makes an awful lot of sense when you get right down to their mission.

Posted by Mysticdog | January 24, 2007 4:52 PM

What about selling the naming rights to government assets?

The Sherwin Williams White House?
The Preparation H Washington Monument?
The MBNA Capitol (oops, don't want to call attention to that, do we?)

Posted by Cap'n Phealy | January 24, 2007 5:09 PM

whoever baby einstein's pr and/or product agency is?....i'd say they are pretty well connected

Posted by lenny | January 24, 2007 5:11 PM

Why not sell off the years (and everything else) as they did in David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest"? 2008 could be the year of the Fox News Network for a cook $1 billion.

Posted by Typically Inappropriate | January 24, 2007 5:20 PM

After her daughter was born, Julie Aigner-Clark searched for ways to share her love of music and art with her child. So she borrowed some equipment, and began filming children's videos in her basement.

This was not product placement. It was a reverie about the stay at home mom combined with the Reagan-era philosophy of pull yourself up by your bootstraps. All you need is a basement and a video camera - actually, that probably describes some other entrepreneurial opportunities.

Posted by Tinfoil Hat Boy | January 24, 2007 5:22 PM

At roughly $10,000 a second for free advertising, that's a chunk of tax-free chaching.

Posted by Lucy Skye | January 24, 2007 5:32 PM

Yeah, I agree... when I heard of that product plug by President Chuckle Nutts the first thing that came to mind was "Idiocracy" (Brought to you by Carl's Jr.)

Posted by Paco | January 24, 2007 5:33 PM

Doesn't one of the Bush brothers pander a line of software supposed to provide for the edification of young children's minds? I believe it is Neil, but I am not sure.

Posted by m | January 24, 2007 5:46 PM

I feel like I am the product that has been placed, in this post. The check's in the mail, Matt.

Posted by Mark Schmitt | January 24, 2007 11:19 PM

If you go back and look up the Christmas dinner menu the White House sent out, you will see its already been done... don't know if this is a change in policy from the Clinton menu.

Posted by john st. clair | January 25, 2007 4:56 AM

a businesswoman who sold her business to DISNEY??? nothing like a little free advertising for the folks that brought you the 9/11 hit job on Clinton just prior to the election!

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