Dads get your money back - get cash for Baby Einstein DVDs

Do you own any Baby Einstein DVDs or videos? If so and in case you haven't heard - hop on to the BE website and get a refund for your purchase price! The Walt Disney Co. (who owns the BE brand) announced last week that they would offer cash refunds for "Baby Einstein" videos/DVDs for toddlers in response to challenges about the legitimacy of claims that the products were educational. Apart from a cash refund you can also exchange DVDs for a "Baby Einstein" book or music CD, or receive 25 percent off another "Little Einstein" product. The offer expires March 4 so get in there right away!

This is actually quite BIG news we think. First of all it's amazing to see a corporate giant like Walt Disney actually admitting that one of their products may not live up to a key selling proposition. The educational benefit of toddler's watching Baby Einstein has long been questioned by child care organisations and researchers who have conducted studies on brain development and learning. (in case you are interested, the primary reason DVDs of any sort are not "educational" for babies / toddlers is because brain development in the early stages depends on relationships - i.e. someone showing/explaining something to the little ones). Note: DVDs can obviously be educational for older kids and adults.

Secondly, it seems unheard of that a company would compensate consumers for historic purchases (wouldn't they usually just get the lawyers in to dispute any liabilities)? Are we witnessing a change of corporate ethics or was this just a clever marketing campaign (after all lots of media outlets and bloggers are writing about this ... including us). Well 'respect' to the marketing folks, product managers and lawyers over at Walt Disney either way.

Thirdly, what about all the other "educational" DVDs that are out there? There's lots of them - I wonder how other companies will respond to this announcement.

Finally - Now that BE DVDs are practically "free" you can enjoy them even more. DIYFather recommends you watch Baby Einstein DVD's WITH your kids ... that way you can maximise product use: entertainment for the little ones and education for us dads :-)

Enjoy

-Stef