TV advertising works!

I'll admit that there are moments that I want to sleep a little longer and I'll let Judah watch TV for a little longer than necessary. It's always age appropriate and shows that I've watched with him before but what I miss out on are all the commercials in between the shows. PBS is pretty good because they don't do commercials but Nick Jr. is relentlessly marketing to moms and their kids. My son, being the sponge that he is, has been teaching me about how well advertising works.

I think that Judah was just around three (if not a little younger) when we were out at Target picking up a few household items. Judah was sitting in the cart as I stood in the toothpaste isle trying to decide if I needed whitening or tartar control. As I was debating, he pointed to a box and said "Mama, that's Colgate Total!". I was stunned. I laughed and said "You're right, it is. How did you know that?" To which Judah replied, "The lady says it makes her mouth clean and shiny." Score one point for Colgate for marketing to my toddler who in turn marketed to his mom.

It may have been a month or so later when we were driving around town, when all the sudden Judah gasps "Mama, look! It's the AT&T truck!" Again, I was thinking "what the heck, how does he know this?". I laughed, surprised and said "Yup, it sure is Judah. It's crazy that you know that." To which he replied, "Yeah, AT&T, your world delivered." No lie, he delivered AT&T's tag line perfectly. Score for AT&T for effectively sucking my son into their commercial.

Those of you that know Judah know that pretends to be different characters and says strange things from time to time. On Friday, he threw me a real curve ball. We were getting ready to leave for my parent's house for the weekend and I asked Judah if he wanted to get some toys together to take. Of course, he said yes. So I said to him "Come here Judah and I'll give you a bag to put your toys in." He followed me to the pantry where I keep my eco-friendly green (in color) Win-Co reusable bags. I grabbed one down and Judah says to me "Are those your green bags? Are you giving me a Debbie Meyer Green Bag for my toys?" I stopped short before giving him the bag and said "What did you call this?", holding up the bag. "A Debbie Meyer Green Bag." he replies. I was totally perplexed. I had no idea what he was talking about and brushed it off as some weird name he'd decided to give my bags.

It all came full circle for me today as I sat in my parent's spare room watching TV by myself. A commercial came on saying "keep your fruits and vegetables fresher for days...with your Debbie Meyer Green Bags". I started laughing out loud hysterically. This is what Judah was talking about. Some stupid "green bags" that kept fruit fresh! Of all things to remember why would he remember exactly what these bags where called? His little mind astonishes me and it's moments like these where I am reminded of my responsibility to protect his little sponge of a mind. Although, I can't wait to tell his girlfriends one day about his fascination with advertising.

I'll leave you with this. Last week in Target (we go there a lot) Judah pointed at a spray bottle and said "Hey, it's Resolve Power! I want to be the Resolve Power guy!" Look for Judah this Halloween dressed up as that loud annoying infomercial guy, Mr. Resolve Power.