Baby Einstein
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Baby Einstein, stylized as baby einstein, is an American franchise and line of
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
products, including
home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...
programs, CDs,
book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
s, flash cards, toys, and baby gear that specialize in interactive activities for
infant In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...
s and toddlers under three years old, created by Julie Aigner-Clark. The franchise is produced by The Baby Einstein Company (formerly known as I Think I Can Productions). The videos show babies, toddlers and preschoolers under three years simple patterns, puppet shows, and familiar objects, such as everyday items, animals, and toys that are often accompanied by reorchestrated
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
written by composers such as
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
,
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
, Antonio Vivaldi,
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
, George Frideric Handel, and many others, as well as some traditional rhymes. The video series is also known for its puppets, which are all animals who seldom speak, mostly communicating in simple sounds and their respective animal noises. The Baby Einstein Company has also released a companion series aimed at preschoolers, called ''
Little Einsteins ''Little Einsteins'' is an American Animated series, animated children's television series developed by Douglas Wood (writer), Douglas Wood and based on the Baby Einstein line of videos. Produced by The Baby Einstein Company (at the time owned ...
.'' Clark eventually made another sister show called ''WeeSchool'' in 2016 to 2018. Baby Einstein was introduced to the public in 1996, and remained a small company until Clark sold it to
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
. Between November 7, 2001, and October 13, 2013, Disney owned and operated the Baby Einstein brand. Starting on October 14, 2013, Kids II, Inc. owns and operates the Baby Einstein brand.


History

The Baby Einstein Company was founded in 1996 by former teacher and stay-at-home mom Julie Aigner-Clark at her home in suburban Alpharetta,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, as I Think I Can Productions. According to an interview with Julie Dunn, she wanted her babies to be exposed to classical music, poetry, colors, shapes, and more. Aigner-Clark and her husband borrowed video equipment and invested $15,000 of their own savings to produce the initial product, a VHS cassette they named ''Baby Einstein'' and later sold as ''Language Nursery'' in 2001 to avoid confusion with the Baby Einstein brand as a whole. The original video shows a variety of toys and visuals interspersed with music, stories, numbers, and words spoken in seven different languages: English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German,
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
, and Russian. Eventually, the video was marketed across the United States,
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, and Australia. It even won the 1997 Parenting Magazine award for Best Video of the Year. More videos followed like ''Baby Mozart'' and ''Baby Bach'', with some videos featuring the Clarks' two daughters, Aspen and Sierra, as well as other children. It quickly became a multimillion-dollar franchise; its revenue grew from $1 million in 1998 to $25 million in 2001. Julie Aigner-Clark renamed the company as Aigner-Clark Productions in 1998, then the Baby Einstein Company the following year, and on February 10, 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced they had acquired a minority stake in the company in exchange for a North American home video distribution agreement under the FHE Kids sub-label of Family Home Entertainment, as well as DVD distribution. On November 6, 2001,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
announced they had acquired The Baby Einstein Company for an undisclosed amount. Julie Aigner-Clark stepped down from directing Baby Einstein videos after ''Baby Beethoven'' in 2002. Disney rereleased the first eight Baby Einstein videos previously distributed by FHE Kids in 2002-2003, and then rereleased all the Aigner-Clark videos with some alterations in 2004. These changes were mainly done with the toy scenes and some titular changes in the credits. The concept and popularity of Baby Einstein expanded as a Disney property. Educational toys and additional videos were developed. Baby Einstein was also the source of inspiration for a preschool-aimed television series called ''
Little Einsteins ''Little Einsteins'' is an American Animated series, animated children's television series developed by Douglas Wood (writer), Douglas Wood and based on the Baby Einstein line of videos. Produced by The Baby Einstein Company (at the time owned ...
'', created by the Disney-owned Baby Einstein Company and animated by Curious Pictures. The series began with a direct-to-video film in August 2005, with regular episodes airing on Playhouse Disney starting in October of that year. The success of Baby Einstein was estimated to be nearly $400 million based on revenues. Julie was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" and won various awards, and one in three U.S. households with babies were found to own at least one Baby Einstein product. It received positive media and Aigner-Clark appeared on the '' Oprah Winfrey Show'', '' Good Morning America'', '' The Today Show'', and ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', among others. President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
mentioned the Baby Einstein Company in his 2007
State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a Joint session of the United States Congress, joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning ...
address, which Aigner-Clark was invited to attend. In 2008, Clark, along with actress Jennifer Garner, hosted a tenth anniversary party for ''Baby Einstein''. Clark had also announced plans to launch a toddler brand called ''Einstein Pals'', along with a new Baby Einstein video. But it was all abandoned for reasons unknown. As a result of Baby Einstein being named after
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
, royalties had to be paid to Corbis which compensates the Einstein estate. This made Einstein one of the top five earning deceased celebrities. On October 14, 2013, The Walt Disney Company announced they had sold the ''Baby Einstein'' brand to Kids II, Inc., a longtime licensee of the property.


Controversy


FTC complaint

In May 2006, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) filed a complaint with the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...
(FTC) against the Baby Einstein Company and similar companies for false advertising."Baby Einstein & Brainy Baby FTC Complaint"
, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood website, retrieved Dec. 15, 2008
The CCFC alleged false advertising based on an
American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of poli ...
recommendation that children under two should be discouraged from watching television. It also cited studies showing that only 6% of parents were aware of that recommendation, whereas 49% thought educational videos were very important in children's intellectual development. In December 2007, the FTC closed the complaint, noting that some of the CCFC's claims did not raise issues under the FTC's substantiation rules."Federal Trade Commission Closing Letter"
to counsel for the Baby Einstein Company, December 5, 2007, retrieved July 9, 2008
The FTC also considered the redesign of the Baby Einstein website, which removed certain product testimonials and product descriptions, as well as the company's promise to make sure that advertising claims about products' educational and developmental value would be properly substantiated.


Language development

A 2010 study published in '' Psychological Science'' demonstrated that children who viewed the videos regularly for one month, with or without their parents, "showed no greater understanding of words from the program than kids who never saw it". On the other hand, children who were taught by their parents improved the most; researchers speculated that this was probably because children learn best "through meaningful gestures and interactive communication with parents". In response to these new findings, Disney offered refunds to parents whose children did not see improvement, even though Bob Iger, CEO of
the Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
, demanded a retraction (of the press release) when a similarly unsupportive study was announced in 2007. The 2007 study, based on telephone interviews with parents, had been published in the '' Journal of Pediatrics'' and resulted in a lawsuit by the company's founders due to widespread negative media coverage stemming from the article. The press release announcing the study explained that for each hour spent watching baby DVDs/videos, infants understood on average six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. The
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
researchers Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff had claimed that, among infants aged 8 to 16 months, exposure to "baby DVDs/videos" such as "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" was strongly associated with lower scores on a Communicative Development Inventory, a standard language development test. The Baby Einstein Company expressed "serious concerns about the many contradictions" in the study. Although University of Washington President Mark Emmert rejected Disney's claims, in 2010, the university settled with the founders, paying out $175,000 in back legal fees and turned over the study's data to the Baby Einstein founders. In March 2008, the ''Journal of Pediatrics'' released a study by
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and the Boston Children's Hospital's Center on Media and Child Health showing that television viewing is, “neither beneficial nor deleterious to child cognitive and language abilities” for children under 2, in a study that examined all television rather than just education DVDs for babies. In January 2010, the founders requested that a judge order the University of Washington to release records for the 2007 study, saying, “Given that other research studies have not shown the same outcomes, we would like the raw data and analytical methods from the Washington studies so we can audit their methodology, and perhaps duplicate the studies". In 2013, the original dataset was reanalyzed by independent scholars who concluded that it was safest to suggest that baby videos had minimal impact on language development and that linking baby videos to decreased language development was not well supported by the data.


See also

*
List of Baby Einstein videos '' Baby Einstein'' (The Baby Einstein Company) is a series of videos designed for infants. Founded by Julie Aigner-Clark in 1996 in her Atlanta home, Clark couldn't find a video to share with her first-born child, Aspen Clark. After successful sal ...


References


External links


Baby Einstein website
{{Authority control 1990s fads and trends 2000s fads and trends 1996 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 2013 mergers and acquisitions Early childhood education in the United States Education companies of the United States Direct-to-video television series Manufacturing companies established in 1996 Mass media and entertainment controversies