The other day my husband came home from the Apple store with something new, as he is wont to do. This time he picked up Spongebob Teaches Typing, for our kids. As Mac users know software choices are limited and this was the only choice, of two, available in the store. Spongebob got me to thinking about character tie-ins and how prevalent they are in our kids lives. In our house Spongebob not only teaches typing but also level 2 reading and endorses Cheez-its, where does he find the time? My kids don’t watch much Spongebob but they don’t need to in order to recognize him and his motley crew of undersea friends. Tie-ins are something that Disney has elevated to high art and Nickelodeon, Spongebob’s home network, is not far behind. The problem for me is that they are developing brand loyalty in our kids from their earliest moments in life. This helps to feed the beast that is consumerism and the “I want that” mentality of kids. Even though we have avoided most of the obvious character riddled products, some do sneak in. Take a look around and see what characters have taken up residence in your home.

Here is an article about marketing tie-ins for the new Indiana Jones movie, it is quite a diverse lot. 2008-04-20-indiana-jones-skull-marketing_N.htm

If you are looking for typing programs here are two review sites Software for kids 2008 review and Superkids software reviews