Baby Marketing 101
The other day, someone asked me if there was going to be a theme for Henry’s first birthday party. (Coming soon to a back yard near you.) I laughed and said, no, that I’m sure he’d be fine with just your standard balloons and cake. But she insisted that we have a theme. Elmo, she suggested.
I replied that Elmo would mean nothing to Henry, as he’s never seen Sesame Street. (In fact, he’s watched all of 5 minutes of television during these past 11 months, and that was likely when I was holding him and turning on the news to see what the weather was going to be like.)
Well, it seems that Elmo is not unlike crack, and that first experience will get you addicted for life. You see, on Saturday after driving around for 45 minutes while Henry napped (he had missed his regular noon snooze because we went to a birthday party), we ended up at the mall.
So we loaded Henry into his stroller and walked around for a while until we headed into Nordstrom’s where they were having a big sale and, more importantly, were giving away free balloons. (Oh, how he loves balloons.) We bought him a nice t-shirt and, as we were looking at some pajamas, he spotted something red and furry. Nearly jumping out of Kristen’s arms, Henry saw a stuffed Elmo on a shelf.
Kristen handed Elmo to Henry, and he began to hug the doll and smile and laugh and squeeze it and kick his legs. He’s only acted like that around one other thing (the orange horsey that has sprung a mysterious leak and is now deflated), and we hadn’t bought him a toy for at least three days, so we got it for him.
I just don’t understand it, though. Of all the stuffed toys there, why Elmo? Why has he been gripping that thing in his ting hand for the past two days straight? Why does he, at every chance, try and shove Elmo’s hands or feet into his mouth?
Did Sesame Street do so much testing that they knew that they had something so irresistible to infants and toddlers? Do they inject some strange breast-milk scent into the stuffing of the toys? Is it the googly plastic eyes?
Who knows. I do know, however, that this is likely only the beginning. But if I can the tolerate large plastic toys that have taken over our place, I suppose I can withstand the horrors of that red devil.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
That picture is ADORABLE!