Clifford the Big Red Marketing Ploy

In addition to my parental responsibilities, I have husbandly responsibilities. Every week I pride myself on getting a care package sent off to The Doctor. Getting some diversity into the packages has become somewhat of a challenge, especially if, like me, you lack any sort of imagination.

She requested dried fruits. I sent her a bunch of dried fruits from the commissary. She has enough of that treat to last her a while, as I wasn't the only one who sent her some. It occurred to me that if she wants healthy stuff, I should go to the health-food grocery down the street. I can bring the kids over the weekend - it'll be something to do, and the kids can pick at the free samples! I can get ideas on what to send to The Doctor! What a great weekend activity!

So my son stays in the cart and gnaws on an apple while my daughter runs in front of the cart to inspect the groceries. We all sample the chocolate pretzels and the dried mango. My daughter helps daddy pick out some microwaveable things to send to Mommy.

We go searching the aisles of the store and my daughter runs to the end and stops dead at a large wall of cereal, marveling and the vastness of it.

"Look at THAT, daddy!"

"That is a lot of cereal, isn't it?"

"CLIFFORD!"

Huh?

"It's Clifford, Daddy!" My daughter has already grabbed a box off the shelf. Indeed, Clifford the Big Red Dog has endorsed a box of Cascadian Farms rice puff thingies.

"Can we bring him home, Daddy?"

Ah, yes. Too late I realized that Clifford was right at my three-year-old's eye level. Curse you, companies that market to children. I blame you for all of society's ills.

Sigh. No time to explain eye-level marketing to my three-year-old now. Let me put the toddler on standby so I can take a minute to decide the best course of action.

Pro: 1) The cereal's organic-ish; 2) the sugar and caloric content and of the cereal isn't so bad; 3) Clifford is a PBS cartoon, and not an icon from a for-profit shop, like a princess; 4) my daughter eats cereal, so the box won't gather dust on the shelf; and 5) I have already nixed a few items that my daughter has requested, and, to my delight, she accepted each verdict.

Con: 1) It's a sugar cereal; 2) I don't want to reward companies that market to kids this way; 3) I don't want to set a precedent of giving in to my daughter's demands to buy things while in stores; 4) my daughter didn't say the "magic word;" and 5) when did she learn about Clifford?

To be fair, Con #5 isn't really a con, more of a bafflement on daddy's part...

Oops, this analysis has taken too long, as the toddler is starting to see the indecision on Daddy's face. Time to bring out the big guns.

"Please, daddy?"

I never really had a chance. This one was over when we entered the store. To her credit, the only other things my daughter requested while were in the store were apples.

In fact, my daughter was more than helpful for the rest of the shopping experience. She entertained my son, picked out and bagged those apples, loaded the groceries on to the checkout conveyor belt, and told the cashier all about the Clifford cereal.

The cereal tastes good. My daughter loves it. She gave me a "Thanks, daddy!" that was worth the trip. I'll explain the evils of marketing to children some other time.