Disney Expands Its "Baby Einstein" Refunds

(CBS/AP)  The Walt Disney Co. is expanding a refund program for its "Baby Einstein" videos for toddlers in response to challenges about the legitimacy of its educational claims.

The company upgraded a customer satisfaction program beginning last month by explicitly offering cash refunds on any DVDs bought from June 5, 2004 to Sept. 4.

Buyers can also exchange DVDs for a "Baby Einstein" book or music CD, or receive 25 percent off a "Little Einstein" product. The offer expires March 4.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based advocacy group, claimed "victory" Friday in its years-long battle to protect consumers from falsely believing the videos could, for example, teach words to babies under 2 years old.

"We believe that this is an acknowledgment that baby videos are not educational," said Susan Linn, a psychologist and director of the campaign.

The campaign complained to the Federal Trade Commission in May 2006, saying claims made on "Baby Einstein" packaging and the Web site were not supportable by scientific research.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under 2 years old watch no television or other "screen media." Experts say early television viewership can lead to attention problems, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

At the time, the Disney subsidiary removed some wording from the packages and took down testimonials that claimed educational benefits from the videos on the Baby Einstein Web site.

The commission decided in December 2007 to take no formal action after investigating the matter.

Unsatisfied, the campaign brought its material to a group of Boston lawyers, which threatened a class-action lawsuit against Disney in a letter to CEO Robert Iger in June 2008.

The upgraded refund policy dates back to the same date requested in the letter by the lawyers, led by attorney Edward Broderick, but it's unclear if the move settles the threatened lawsuit.

Broderick did not return messages seeking comment. A Disney spokesman could not clarify if the refund upgrade removed the threat of further legal action.

In a release, The Baby Einstein Company called the campaign's statements "peppered with revisionist history," and emphasized that its consumer satisfaction program has been clearly identified on its Web sites since 1999 and on packaging since 2008.

The company was founded in 1997 by Julie Ainger-Clark, a mother and former educator, and was bought by Disney in 2001.

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To participate in the Baby Einstein refund, click here.

[dallaschristian]

I know plenty of National Merit Scholarship winners who watched TV as children, it didn't effect their intelligence....now they are MDs, attorneys, web designers, etc. TV promotes imagination far better than most parents can help their children in that sphere. My son knows more about the planets and dinosaurs than I could teach him, b/c I am not science minded...he just turned 5 and we have plenty of educational toys, but the videos and TV are what really improve his mind. And my husband grew up in a family with no TV and those 7 kids turned out wacky as the day is long...one's a religious zelot you don't ever want to start a conversation with, one is a wife-beater, another is bi-polar...they have zero social skills....so don't lecture on the pitfalls of TV, when NOT watching TV can cause real trama to kids!

[mydigitalfamily]

Well, the baby doctors know enough to say that the benefits of TV don?t seem to justify its risks. The doctors assumed that their weighty credibility would convince parents. But they miscalculated. They were stunned that their guidelines had been largely ignored, as have been years of similar admonitions by professionals and scholars backed by solid science. Although many parents are uncomfortable and report feeling embarrassed and guilty about putting children in front of a screen, they continue to do so in great numbers. Most children, even the very young, are watching lots of TV. Busy parents, themselves raised on TV, have come to rely heavily on TV and baby videos, at least to fill in periods of their children?s day, or at least to allow themselves some down time to take a shower. Some say that they just cannot manage otherwise in their own busy and demanding lives. Besides, wanting the best for their child, parents do not want to miss possible opportunities to help their development. They don?t see the point of waiting for science to catch up with an aggressive commerce that floods them with powerful skilled marketing backed by paid ?experts.?

I want to make a point: Although claims by merchandisers often might as well be claims for the magic healing of colored water, many parents have been convinced that they are helping their babies learn by exposing them to TV and baby videos. Why? Because of the Wizard of Oz effect in human nature: Many parents would sometimes actually rather believe a fast talking wizard engagingly hawking magic healing colored water from the back of a truck than a boring scientist. They easily believe that the wizard can make their baby brave like the Lion, smart like the Scarecrow, and kind like the Tin Man. The wizard would get baby to where she ought to be, just like he helped Dorothy with her magic sparkly red slippers.

The pediatricians, good doctors advocating for sound development, simply did not appreciate the power of cultural forces driven mainly by the modern wizards of merchandising. They did not pay enough attention to the zeal of well meaning parents who would often overlook the fact that the only beneficiary is the guy on the back of the truck, and that ? worse -- colored water can be accidentally harmful.
Bottom line: These days, parents are mostly left to themselves to manage their kids? interactions with media. Lack of knowledge and controversies among scientists, child advocates, educators, government, broadcasters, and merchandisers are confusing and still give off more heat than light. It is no wonder that the authors of two excellent recent summaries -- Buy, Buy Baby and Into the Minds of Babes -- are themselves concerned mothers driven to figure out for themselves what is actually going on. Along with many experts, these mothers are urging us to not repeat the kind of earlier mistake we had made in preferring baby formula to breast feeding. See www.mydigitalfamily.org.
Incidentally, one silver lining to all this hoopla has been the increasing appreciation of the importance of the first years of life to later development.

[formrusmcsgt]

Disney's product was obviously aimed at those moms who think their child is SO exceptional - justified only by the fact that it's HER baby - and made a mint in the process.

[formrusmcsgt]

"You are the one who said that YOU felt sorry for kids of parents who think education needs to start in the crib."

That's right dawn. I don't consider infant toys to be educational tools. Maybe you think rattles or teething rings are educational tools. I personally do not.

When I say "education" in the crib, I mean programs that parents use to try to school their kids before they can even walk.

These are the fools to whom I refer - and their poor kids, of course.

But you being you, this is just another "nasty" post as far as you're concerned, surely.

[rwsmith29456]

Disney was wrong to promote it that way and the parents were stupid for believing those claims. There have been hundreds of home improvement courses and products and they probably do some good but each is only one learning tool. Was anybody who felt their children weren't helped by products like "Hooked On Phonics" given refunds? I think every parent has a right to give children violins right after birth but it doen't mean they will become another Paganini.

[nearl451]

It's hard to believe all the claims that "Baby Einstien" promises to deliver.

The content of the DVD's does stimulate (If interaction with my children is any measure.

It is impossible to believe that people have asked for and been granted money back on these products.

[formrusmcsgt]

The mothers who buy into it obviously are no "Einsteins" themselves.....