Customer Reviews

The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Commercials

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My kids are rather TV deprived, and so when they get to see TV at other peoples houses they are mesmerized by the commercials. This book does discuss the effect of commercials, but the solution is a little odd -- Mama bear offers to buy EVERYTHING advertised during one particular Saturday morning cartoon session -- with the caveat that that's all they get for the month. That's a lot of money, and many kids would miss the point. I much prefer HBO's "Buy Me That"'s approach that takes the magic out of the commercials.

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Children love the Berenstain Bears-- the Berenstain bears have been a source of comfort before dentists' visits, shared important information about safety, and helped in times of transition like new schools or moves. This time, the friendly bears tackle the problem with commercials. Young children are exposed to commercials on TV, the radio, even at school-- this book deals with the "I need that because I saw it on TV" syndrome in a very clever, gentle, and clear way. Highly recommended.

Sister and Brother bear want EVERYTHING they see on the TV Commercials. Whether it is a new cereal or a new candy or a new toy or whatever. They want it and they HAVE to have it.

Mama Bear thinks she should unplug the TV, but then she would miss her show and Papa Bear would miss his.

The cubs keep pestering her to get the things in the Advertisements. So one day Mama decides to let them have everything they want off the TV commercial. They have to eat every bit of cereal and candy and play with all the toys for a month.

The cubs find out the cereal is gross, the candy is too sour, and the toys are lame.

They stop asking for things off the TV.

Our children caught the commercial bug. Try as we might, we couldn't explain the concept to our young sons. They saw kids enjoying cereal, toys and other stuff and figured it had to be good. So, they began pelting us with "I want" requests.

This Berenstain Bears book allowed our kids to discuss the bears' problem, which they quickly related to their own challenge. The book also introduced the phrase and concept of "smart shoppers."

We bring this book out about 1-2 times per month at bedtime and revisit the concept. Now, when they see a commercial, they tell us they are "smart shoppers" and don't ask us to buy the toy/cereal/stuff.

We own several Berenstain Bears books and they have worked very well in helping us instill good values and manners in our children. You can pick these up at a great price through Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion.

My kids love these books. They are fun to read, and at the same time they teach them about daily values of life.
Very nice books for parents to share with their children.