A rant about Elmo - Page 3

[zoedeansmom]

I'm loving all the attention this is getting! It's really validating to find like-minded mommas and not just feel like an over-sensitive freak or something. It feels good to do something proactive with my anger instead of just stewing. With all the letter to SS this has generated (everything you gals said was AWESOME!), maybe we'll even see some changes made!

[zoedeansmom]

Originally Posted by acannon

There are versions of Sesame Street that are shown all over the world, even in Africa. I wonder if they show bottle feeding on those shows, too.

That's a great point! Formula feeding is bad enough here, but can be deadly in places without access to clean water. I wonder if there's even a difference in SS topics in Europe, where things (from what I hear) are a bit more BF friendly. Can any moms from other countries comment on this?

[SweetTeach]

Trust me when I say that even if you get what feels like a form letter back in response, your emails/letters are being registered. Keep 'em coming!

As far as SS in other countries, the international versions of SS are created, designed and implemented by people from within that particular culture. The US production only helps as far as logistics, but not with curriculum and such because the point is for each country to address their own specific issues (in the US there is a whole child curriculum with a different focus each season).

So, in South Africa, there is a big emphasis on HIV (children living with it, prevention (age appropriate), etc.), in Northern Ireland, there is a focus on the political climate there and how to create peace and so forth. So there very well could be more bf in other versions of SS if they are high-rates of bf cultures.

Earth's Best is a sponsor of SS (all the sponsors are listed in the beginning of the show) but sponsors don't design, have a say in or implement the curriculum nor do they deal with production at all (which is where you would get live people bf or bottle feeding).

Consumer pressure/feedback makes a difference in media, but remember that the AP/NFL segment of US culture is minuscule compared to what the norm is so it's really important to make your/our voices heard if we expect to see a change.

[zoedeansmom]

Thanks for all the feedback! It's really good to know our voices are heard, even if it takes awhile to see results. Email makes it so quick and easy to respond to different shows and companies any time day or night, this experience has inspired me to do more of that. It's certainly more constructive than just complaining or being angry, right?