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It’s Official: Baby Einstein Won’t Make Your Kid a Genius.
Stephanie Gruner
October 27, 2009

First there was a study suggesting Baby Einstein was more for dummies, and now this.

The Walt Disney Co. is offering to refund money to buyers of these popular DVDs. The implication is that they misled consumers into thinking the videos made babies smarter.

The Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood (CCFC) is claiming victory. Back in 2006, the Boston-based advocacy group complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Disney should stop saying videos were educational and good for infant development. (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV for kids under two, and some experts say watching videos could lead to attention problems later.)

Disney complied by changing its marketing language, but the CCFC pushed for compensation for parents who bought the videos, in part by sharing research with lawyers who threatened a class-action lawsuit.goofy Its Official: Baby Einstein Wont Make Your Kid a Genius.

So now Disney is offering what it calls “the Baby Einstein DVD Upgrade/Moneyback Guarantee” — essentially a refund. From now until next March, you can trade in a Baby Einstein DVD bought during the past five years for a Baby Einstein book or music CD or go for the cash ($15.99).

Gloating from the CCFC: “The refund offer is a wonderful victory for families and anyone who cares about children. Recent research shows that screen time is not educational for babies. Now parents who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, mistakenly believing the videos would make their babies smarter, can recoup their money.”

Hooray for the puritans in Boston, but this is hardly a victory for families. As I wrote in that earlier post about Baby Einstein videos, there’s no harm in using TV occasionally as a babysitter — it’s not like we’re letting them play Grand Theft Auto (not yet) — and consumers aren’t stupid. We’re happy to live the little white lie.

We know the videos don’t make kids brainier, any more than feeding them Wheaties makes them Tiger Woods. We just need a break now and then.

I’m keeping my videos.

Photo by erin MC hammer.

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Stephanie is a writer in London. She’s lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, where (until the Russians bombed in August 2008) she produced a radio show on politics, business, social issues and culture, and in Lucca, Italy where she wrote a travel column for The Wall Street Journal ...

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  • http:www.homeofmillican.com/cave/ Millican_Jorrit

    I’m amazed that anyone could ever have thought these DVDs would turn their baby into a genius. They’re great for taking the pressure off parents when we need time and space – but there’s only one thing which is guaranteed benefit a baby. And that’s live interaction with a loving parent. All the research from neuroscience now shows that.

  • Cyndi

    Any parent that thought these DVD’s would make their baby a genius obviously spent no time with their children watching it. I used the music CD at nap time as the music was soothing. I enjoyed sitting with my little ones watching the DVD’s and pointing out things such as animals, colors, etc. A parent is the only one that can make a child smarter…it’s the interaction that you have with your child(ren) that makes them who they are. Anyone that returns their DVD or CD is in it just to get some money. Admit it…you used the product and enjoyed it when you did. To return it and get money back is just wrong!

  • Charlie

    http://www.jpeds.com/article/PIIS0022347607004477/abstract
    The Journal of Pediatrics released a study in August 2007 that shows significantly decreased language development in babies who viewed more hours of “baby DVD/videos.” It’s one thing to plop your helpless infant in front of a baby DVD because you don’t think it’s going to hurt them. But the scientific evidence shows that IT DOES HURT THEM! Why the heck do you think Disney/Baby Einstein is offering to issue the refund? Let me clue you in a little to corporate America: businesses don’t just give money away to be nice. Live your white lie. You’re harming your children.

  • Stephanie Gruner

    Actually, the authors of this study admit that the evidence doesn’t prove that baby DVDs harm infants. Their first suggestion is that parents who recognize their children are not developing fast enough may be resorting to DVDs as a remedial tool. When you test those children, they test lower than their peers but that doesn’t mean the DVDs caused the shortfall. Similarly, if you tested children in remedial math classes, you would find they test lower than their peers at math but you wouldn’t then conclude that remedial classes make students dumber.

    The authors do hypothesize that “extensive exposure to an absorbing but not developmentally constructive stimulus could affect brain development and language acquisition.” However, they are careful to point out that their study didn’t prove that – “the analysis presented here”, they conclude, “is not a direct test of the developmental impact of viewing baby DVDs/videos.”

    Obviously parents shouldn’t use baby DVDs as a substitute for good parenting. Nor should they plop babies in front of a TV all day long. But if you’re spending quality time with your child and also letting them occasionally watch a baby DVD, you’re not harming them. Not even the authors of this study say you are.

  • Annie

    This has been known in the music cognition community for years (my research field)…I’m incredibly surprised that it took this long for this to happen and that Disney is finally admitting how useless these DVDs actually are.

    I’m just really frustrated how hyped up and exaggerated the media interprets data from scientific research. Even if it’s just one or two papers!

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