PBS...obsessed w/ nuts???

It used to upset me too and when my DD was little we used to watch Sesame Street and every time they said Peanut Butter, we'd yell "CHEESE WHIZ" back at the TV and giggle.

Millions of kids love peanut butter and it's something they relate to positively. I then think what it would be like for a child who was maybe wheelchair-bound watching a bunch of kids skipping and swinging and hanging upside down from trees. Much worse I think.

But you're right. Since they sometimes show kids in wheelchairs or on crutches or with big, thick glasses, maybe they could introduce a new kid on Sesame Street that can't eat PB and make it a subtle part of the show. Like everytime they sing Peanut Butter and Jelly, she could yell "CHEESE WHIZ"!

They also likely have a contract with the industry as does Disney. Everytime peanut or peanut butter is mentioned on TV, someone is getting paid for it.

I knew that was true if they mentioned a particular brand name eg Coke or Skippy or Cheerios. Are you saying that everytime they mention "milk" or "orange juice" or everytime Cookie Monster says "cookie", without using the brand name, that they would be paid for that? Or are you saying they would receive funds from the Peanut Marketing Board or Milk Marketing Board or Florida Orange Growers Assn?

I'm constantly surprised at how naive I am.

Write to them and see what kind of response you get! I think the outline of this note and the 2 prior responses are a great start to a letter. You could acknowledge the fact that they might be accepting funds from the peanut industry, etc., but could they please also add a comfort zone for all of those unable to eat or be around the things? Just a thought.

Address to write to Sesame Street:
Sesame Workshop
One Lincoln Plaza
New York, NY 10023

A link that will give you all the contact info for all of PBS: [url="http://www.pbs.org/aboutsite/contactlist.html"]http://www.pbs.org/aboutsite/contactlist.html[/url]

Sherlyn - who is trying to be more pro-active about things lately [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

hgtv too this morning! at least it's not a network for children but still...they were perparing fun valentine meals and one of them was a pb&j heartshaped sandwich for kids' lunchboxes. i wasn't so much upset that they had the sandwich and the pb idea on but that mattie monfois (sp?) was joking how it's one of the few things she can "cook" and the other woman said, "oh...you have a lucky, lucky little boy" like getting a pb&j sandwich from mom was the ultimate loving gesture. i'm glad my kids were out of the room; even though it wasn't a really big deal. it does bother me a lot when kids shows go on and on about peanut butter...like it's the only food on earth. i know my kids notice it and get tired of it being mentioned so often. to be a kid and have your favorite cartoon character go on and on about something that can hurt you or even kill you must be pretty disheartening. sesame street, for example, seems so careful about showing other special needs in a positive light than i'm surprised they haven't given some thought to including serious allergies. joey

Hi River:

Where did you get this info from regarding the contract w/Disney?

Thanks,

Kelly

I started a similar thread about a year ago and I wrote a letter to PBS and never got a response. One thing (at this time last year) was that PBS stated on their web site that they were no longer going to open any regular mail from viewers given the Anthrax issues, etc. Any comments needed to be e-mailed to them. Then when you go to their site, they limit the number of characters of your message so severely that you can barely get you message across. The thrust of my forced-to-be-brief note to them last year was that PBS has some of the most talented producers, educators, etc in the industry. PBS (and especially Sesame Street) is clearly trying to be as inclusive as possible to all minorities and many handicaps. Therefore, why can't PBS show some inclusion of other disabilities like food allergies? They don't have to ban PB on Sesame Street, but the next time some character announces "PB&J sandwiches for everyone!", let one of the other characters say "I can't eat PB&J. I am allergic." Then let one of the adult characters say, "Yes, that's true, not everyone can eat anything that they want. Sometimes certain foods make some people sick." etc, etc. Anyway, I'm not as troubled by it anymore. In my "PA journey" over the past year I have had to come to accept this peanut-filled world, but it is true that a quality network like PBS (an "educational" network) needs to become more aware about food allergies.

PBS > the Peanut Butter Station

Just reraising this thread, as I have a question for River:

You mentioned that Disney has some sort of contract where they get paid everytime they mention peanuts. I am just wondering where you got this information from as I have never heard of anything like this before.

Thanks,

Kelly

Quote:Originally posted by yuck2nuts:
[b] Then when you go to their site, they limit the number of characters of your message so severely that you can barely get you message across. [/b]

We should send them emails with a link to THIS thread!!!

Barney is often showed on PBS..my two year old loves him. I contacted the producers of Barney to see if they would incorporate food allergies (particularly peanut) into one of their shows and there response to me was they can not accept ideas, or would even consider a show idea, outside of their creativity team. They went on to say that they would have no way of proving who came up with the idea in the event that their team had the idea first. I think their fear is that the person would want compensation for the show idea. Anyways, I was very dissapointed to hear that. I have a feeling a lot of the other programs would probably respond in the same way.

Someone mentioned pbs stands for peanut butter station. this is not far from the truth. ON the morning kids pbs kids portion of programming there was a mention that PBS stood for Peanut Butter Sandwich. I did not like that much!
-Cindia