Just saw this commercial where a little girl is waiting for her Dad to come home so that she can show him that she can read. He gets home, she grabs him, and takes him to her LeapFrog reading book. She then proceeds to take a stylus, touch each word - the book says the word out loud, and she repeats WHAT THE BOOK SAID FIRST! Excuse me? YOUR NOT READING! You are just repeating what the book says. And if you need the book to prompt you on EVERY WORD, you aren’t even CLOSE to reading.
Do the ad execs really thing that the average person is so dumb that they can’t see this? Well, obviously they DO or they wouldn’t be running the commercial, would they?
(Sorry about that. This commercial just pisses me off!)
Any other criminally stupid commercials out there they just bug you?
How about the one where the little girl says, “Daddy, will you teach me to read?” Daddy says, “Sure honey,” and she hops up onto his lap with a book. Then Daddy says something like, “These are words. And the letters make sounds. The letter ‘e’ makes an ‘eee’ sound . . . uh, well, not always, uhhhh . . .” Cut to the miraculous Leapfrog device, which has your child reading War and Peace by dinnertime.
AAAUGH!!
(1) Hey, Dumbass Daddy, why don’t you just try READING to her? She’ll catch on.
(2) How the hell did kids ever learn to read without all these marvelous electronic devices? What’s this crap about teaching kids to READ, and that reading is FUN, by giving them toys with magic blinking lights and funny sounds?? Why not try getting them interested in BOOKS??! :smack:
Ah, another in a long line of commercials whose sole purpose is to make you think to yourself, “Hey, I don’t think I could teach my child to read if she asked me to … I’d better go get one of those!”
Here’s a thought: Wouldn’t it be great if we could build some, I don’t know … institutions or something where little kids, maybe starting around five or six, could go to get taught things like how to read and how to count and that kind of stuff by people who’ve been trained to do that sort of thing? And, you know, this would be something that was good for everybody, so we could support these intitutions with tax money. I mean, what’s good for everybody, everybody ought to pay for in some way.
Hey, this idea could really go somewhere … I’m gonna go crunch some numbers.
Yikes! I made this mistake with my own daughter just the other day… tried to teach her that letters make sounds… didn’t know that made me a “dumbass daddy”. 'Course I do also just read to her quite frequently…
Yet another example of how TV advertising has resorted to “I am clueless; I must buy this product to save me from myself.”
Think Sprint Wireless ads. I turned to my wife one night and said, “You know, if we’re ever talking on the phone and you think I say to buy a monkey with a cold, or pick up some Shamu, or powder the kids, don’t do it.”
While I agree that reading is best learned from another human being, (my sister taught me when I was four, bless her,) I’ve got to say that, despite the asinine commercial, those little leapfrog pads are the best learning toys I’ve ever seen.
My nieces have one, (mercifully used with earphones most of the time,) with only a couple of cartridges, and the numerous memory games they have seem to hold their attention, and by god, they work. This summer, for example, my youngest niece showed me that she could identify all the US states with no hesitation. She’s four. Also has a pretty good handle on the skeletal system, and basic arithmetic – mostly thanks to Leapfrog.
However, I think there’s a real benefit in one-on-one reading initiation. Better chance of instilling a reverential attitute about printed material.
Erm… I think it’s supposed to be “cute”. The commercial isn’t saying, “The little girl can read.” It’s showing how their toy can develop a child’s interest in reading. No, she obviously isn’t reading; but she thinks she is, and she’s proud of her “accomplishment”. So she’s likely to want to try to read more. As she advances her parent can buy more reading toys that are for higher and higher reading levels.
But they don’t want the audience to think the girl is really reading.
Not you, of course . . . just the daddy in the commercial. They REALLY made him look like an idiot, besides suggesting that a phonics lesson is the ONLY way to teach reading.
My daughters loves her leap pad, and she loves real books too. I was initially resisitant to it, but she she’s learning stuff way above her grade level. She’s in kindergarten and she loves all the science books that are for 3-4th graders. I think they’re fabulous as long as its not all the education they get.
My God I just hate those Leapfrog commercials - I have actually sent general notice to my family to avoid all Leapfrog products, and definitely don’t buy them for my daughter.
“This is a vowel and a vowel is, uh…”
Is this the same company that has the commercial that has Dad running out to buy more copies because his precious was almost done finishing her first story?
I was the primary male responsible for raising my favorite nephew. When he was a little boy, 2 or so, I’d put him on my lap and we’d play “letters.” At the beginning of articles and subsections in New York magazine they had an enlarged initial letter in the first paragraph. After a couple of months, he could recognize printed letters. After a few months, he could write them by name (with a few common kiddie dyslexic printings once in a while).
By the time he was three he was reading the articles to me, albeit slowly and with help sounding out the longer words, to which I happily provided definitions he could understand.
As he was growing up, I made sure each birthday present was comprised of a toy or game and a book. I also made sure it was a book I had read or was reading so we could talk about it.
The kid is now (gods help me) 18 and in pre-med. While I’m certainly not opposed to any tool that helps children learn to read and fosters a sense of accomplishment and love of reading, it saddens me to think that so many people will be using things like this as the PRIMARY method of teaching their children to read. I think anyone involved with a child is jsut screwing themselves (and the child) mercilessly if they deprive them of the bonding and sense of joint accomplishment my nephew and I shared.
I think there should be a warning on things like LeapPad or whatever it’s called that says, “This is a tool designed to help your child learn in ways supplimenting the time and effort you personally put into this or her education. It is not intended to replace direct learning via human to human contact. Now get off your lazy ass and read the kid a damn book, you useless skidmark on the underwear of the universe. Thank you for purchasing our product.”
Eww, what’s the commercial where the 10 YO or so daughter is being pissy towards her dad when he tries to help her with her homework? He gives her something like leapfrog or some other automated learning device, then he comes back and she’s all nice to him? I HATE that commercial!
“See, buy this and your sullen pre-teen won’t hate you as much.” :smack:
I’m not sure if LeapFrog needs to fire their ad agency or not.
On the one hand, I’m nowhere near having any possible use for their products, but I’m well aware of their product offerings and brand name.
On the other, I’ve yet to see a single LeapFrog ad that didn’t feature an obnoxious child, a clueless parent, some other stupid premise, or some combination of the three. All I can think is “If I ever have kids, no way am I buying from that company.” and luckily, I know the brand name, so I can easily identify the boxes that offer the evil products.
Thanks! My daughter’s 4th birthday is in a couple weeks and she’s getting a Leap Pad from grandma and grandpa. She loves these things, and loves books as well. She will sit for hours on end looking at books and making up the stories to go along with them, and I think the LP will be a useful tool to help her and keep her interested. I don’t think I’ve seen the specific commercial you are referencing.
Oh… and FWIW I agree that it’s too bad when somebody (commercial or otherwise) suggests phonics is the only way to learn, or for that matter, when somebody suggest phonics should not be used. My wife is an elementary teacher and a couple years ago her district tried this curriculum that used no phonics at all. It was crazy. I think you have to realize that everybody learns differently and you should try whatever resources you have to facilitate that learning.
Finally, nice to meet you! I’m fairly new here and didn’t want to come across sounding like too much of an arse or anything so I’m glad to see I didn’t offend you with my earlier post or anything. I tend to ooze sarcasm IRL and sometimes that just doesn’t translate so well into written communications.
They REALLY made him look like an idiot, besides suggesting that a phonics lesson is the ONLY way to teach reading.
My daughter’s 4th birthday is in a couple weeks and she’s getting a Leap Pad from grandma and grandpa. She loves these things, and loves books as well. She will sit for hours on end looking at books and making up the stories to go along with them, and I think the LP will be a useful tool to help her and keep her interested. I don’t think I’ve seen the specific commercial you are referencing.