What's up with Tickle Me Elmo?

Sesame Street and commercialization

I’M BACK!!! I submitted my thesis so I’m free from the burden of writing serious work. Make sure to tune in for my live show which is now Tuesdays at 11am PST. You can listen on KSDT. I’m taking classes but they’re less work so it doesn’t feel so bad. Also here’s something exciting: I’m going to grad school! I was planning on continuing history class anyway after this quarter but now I’ll have new material to work with. If you’re curious, I’m going to SDSU, so not a big jump, but still exciting. Anyway, (spoiler alert) I really wanted to do my Full Metal Jacket show this week but I have plans to watch the movie next week so I’m waiting until then. Today is the first time I’m actually dipping into the Sesame Street world. If I were to break down my entire thesis, it would probably take like ten weeks of history class. It also doesn’t translate perfectly, so I’m picking and choosing. The commercialization of Sesame Street is something I only talked about briefly in the epilogue of my thesis. Since it mostly focused on 1969-1974, I didn’t even get to Elmo. Here’s where I’ll say something maybe controversial: I don’t like Elmo. Sesame Street didn’t even need Elmo. He was literally invented as an Anything Muppet (background character). One day, someone wrote lines for him, and now we’re here. Justice for Ernie, Bert, Grover, Big Bird, and Oscar who were here from day one. Anyway, I went to the swap meet this weekend and found a bunch of cool Sesame Street stuff and only paid $12 for a coloring book from the 1980s and a TV Weekly from 1970 talking about the impact of the first season. I was very excited, hence why the Sesame Street brand is this week’s theme.

When Sesame Street was first planned, Joan Ganz Cooney (founder) was vehemently against any kind of commercial being integrated with the show. While season one did air on both public and commercial channels, that decision was made with the purpose of reaching more children. The revenue allowed Sesame Street to move onto season two. The first Sesame Street branded item emerged during the first season in 1970. It was Sesame Street Magazine. It’s hard to imagine a magazine for children who can’t yet read, but Sesame Street somehow did it. The cover of the first issue has Big Bird holding a copy of the magazine which has him holding a copy of the magazine on it. The magazine itself has easy to read comics, lots of illustrations, and crafts. There is also a section for moms and teachers that went over each week’s episodes and some activities to do along with them. Cooney initially wanted there to be a parent component to the show, to encourage parent-child interaction. This was scrapped before the first season, but Sesame Street magazine included these resources instead. The first issue was 30 pages, all in color, and ends with photos of Bill Cosby making faces. Crazy how aging works. Not to be missed is the small text on the cover: “This copy comes to you free, courtesy of Mobil oil Corporation.” Like being aired on commercial television, this sponsorship served a purpose. Magazines were provided to thousands of low-income kids for free. Children from families who could afford the magazine paid around a dollar per issue in the 1980s. I don’t have the numbers for when the magazine was first released. It was published until 2011 and was sold in newsstands making it a prominent children’s magazine, and source of income, for almost half a century.

Very early into its run, the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) responsible for Sesame Street branched out to other products besides literature. The first record released by the CTW was The Sesame Street Book and Record in 1970. It included season one hits like “The People in Your Neighborhood”, “I Love Trash”, and of course the theme song. Shortly after, in 1971, the CTW released The Year of Roosevelt Franklin, also called My Name is Roosevelt Franklin in the reissue. Before I talk about the record, it’s important to give context on Roosevelt Franklin. Created by Matt Robinson (Gordon’s original actor), Roosevelt Franklin was a tiny purple Muppet with black hair that stands up straight. He spoke using slang, which became one of the main points made by his critics. Roosevelt Franklin, as demonstrated by his scenes, was clearly meant to be Black. This fit in with Sesame Street’s emphasis on racial diversity. However, many African American academics felt like Roosevelt Franklin was too stereotypical and his use of slang was not representative of Black Language. Some people however, like Questlove, appreciated Roosevelt Franklin. Nothing was really done about the character until Robinson’s departure from the show in 1972. He still appeared, but was played by a White puppeteer until 1975, when he was finally retired. His album however, has some really positive messaging. The song “The Skin I’m In”, sung by Baby Ray (Roosevelt Franklin’s little brother) is pretty great. Throughout the 1970s, the CTW released a multitude of records with solo albums from Ernie, Bert, Grover, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar, the Count, and even assorted monsters. They also released records in Spanish, attempting to reach a broader audience. My favorite is Sesame Street Fever. You’ll never guess what kind of songs are on it. Who could dislike “Sesame Street Fever” (featuring Robin Gibb) or “Doin’ the Pigeon”? If you wanted to buy every Sesame Street record released, you’d have to be rich. The CTW managed to split the alphabet into seven different releases! It’s hard to say if the CTW really had children’s best interests at heart, especially for the low-income communities they emphasized heavily in Sesame Street, but the answer becomes clearer as commercialization grew.

The CTW wanted to make Sesame Street like a virtual Head Start center. This meant teaching kids about nutrition. According to the internet, the first Sesame Street branded cereal was oatmeal. This actually makes a lot of sense, considering it’s Bert’s favorite food (because he’s so boring). In 1994, Chef Boyardee released a line of Sesame Street pasta. An advertisement for the meals said they were “nutritiously prepared meals for young children”. Something tells me canned pasta isn’t the most nutritious food Sesame Street could have advertised with. Maybe there’s an argument that canned foods were accessible, making Sesame Street Chef Boyardee a more likely purchase across all income levels. I just wonder again if children’s benefits were kept in mind. On top of cereal and pasta, there’s been fruit, seeds, cookies, cookie mix, vegetables, and donuts, just to name a few. For my birthday, someone got me Sesame Street cupcakes, so a lot of this stuff is still out there.

I’m going to jump ahead to the big one: Sesame Place. Sesame Place opened in Pennsylvania in 1980. Another location opened in San Diego in 2022. At Sesame Place, a kid could see their favorite characters, hear their favorite songs, eat their favorite foods, and of course, by their favorite toys. I actually went to Sesame Place in 2009 and have no memory of it, but there’s pictures on Facebook to prove that it happened. A ticket to Sesame Place costs around $60, which isn’t crazy for a theme park, but crazy for a theme park for practically babies. I’m sure Sesame Place has made millions of children happy over the years, but at a high cost.

This isn’t to say all Sesame Street products are bad. They have some that encourage creativity and motor skills. Take coloring books for example, many have words to convey a story across the pages. It’s like coloring in a regular book. The CTW has released hundreds of coloring books. The Holidays Around the World coloring book, which I saw at the swap meet yesterday, was released in 1992. Inside are pages dedicated to Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah, but also other traditions worldwide including piñatas (Mexico), placing shoes by the fireplace (Italy), and riding a double decker bus (England). I’m pretty passionate about children learning intercultural competence at a young age and like the idea of a culturally inclusive coloring book. I also don’t mind the idea of Sesame Street branded health products, like toothpaste. If having an Elmo toothbrush helps kids maintain good oral hygiene, I don’t see much of a problem. I will say that Sesame Street health and beauty products are becoming excessive. bought a Big Bird lip gloss a few years ago, which is fine because I’m an adult and use adult money, but there’s ranges of bath products, soap dishes, towels, makeup, nail polish, combs, soap, sunscreen, and more. I think it would be entirely possible to have an entirely Sesame Street branded shower and skincare routine. This is where excessiveness comes back. No person, even me, needs this much Sesame Street stuff. The quality of the show is no longer heavily attached to the success of these products. When I look at all of the Sesame Street products from over the years, I really just see a pattern of American greed.

It’s time for the big one, let’s talk about Tickle Me Elmo. Tickle Me Elmo really was not all that. It was an Elmo doll that could be squeezed and made to laugh like someone was tickling him. Why did they get so popular? They were shown on television. That’s really it. There was nothing that special about it. Tickle Me Elmo was first released in the summer of 1996 and was produced by Tyco. Black Friday of 1996 should be renamed Tickle Me Elmo Day. It sold out within two hours. There’s been hundreds of tramplings on Black Fridays, but for kid’s toy? One clerk in Canada had to be hospitalized. Here’s where it gets really crazy: there was a Tickle Me Elmo black market. People put ads in newspapers seeking out dolls. Some were sold for almost a thousand dollars. in today’s money, that’s almost two thousand. Tyco couldn’t keep up with the demand, but of course it fell eventually. There’s no great explanation for why people felt so drawn to Tickle Me Elmo other than that people want what they can’t have. In one New York Times article from 1996, a 19 year old bought Tickle Me Elmo’s in bulk and sold them for nearly 500 dollars.¹ People still know Tickle Me Elmo. They know about the craze, even people who weren’t alive then. I tried to think about if I remember any one toy craze like this, but I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like it. Maybe that’s because online shopping has become much more common. I’m a little sad I’ll never experience a true Black Friday. I wanted to line up and fight someone for a TV that’s 85% off. Oh well.

Let’s talk a little about Sesame Street school supplies. If there’s one thing about me, I love buying school supplies. Even in college, where I use a computer 99% of the time, I like to have a well-stocked pencil case. The CTW knew that it was a good idea to make school products for school-aged kids. Perhaps these even made them more excited about the prospect of going to school. Lunchboxes were made as early as 1970. Early lunchboxes featured the cast of Muppets on metal. Some came with a thermos. They’re the kind of thing I’d pay a lot of money for at the swap meet. If I had to guess, I’d say the lunchbox below is from before 1974. Sherlock Hemlock and Prairie Dawn both first appeared in season two, but Prairie Dawn didn’t become a main Muppet until a bit later. The way Grover is drawn is similar to that of earlier releases, such as Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum from 1972. Just a guess.

Last but not least: Sesame Street books. I consider these to go with the magazine in that their purpose stays true to the mission of Sesame Street. According to the Muppet Wiki (which is obviously not fact but has been pretty accurate overall), there are over 1,500 Sesame Street books. I grew up reading the aforementioned Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum, which still holds up. What’s positive about the books is that they by default encourage literacy. Kids should be excited about reading. Because Sesame Street places such an emphasis on letter recognition, branded books seem like the next step in continuing the mission.

The CTW, now Sesame Workshop, didn’t need to do all of this. It’s disappointing that the program fell to commercialism when its origins were so clearly against it, but it would have been almost impossible to avoid it completely. You know what they say, if you cant beat them, join them. I think most of this stuff comes at the detriment to children and parents. Advertising for kids is meant to encourage them to ask their parents to buy them stuff. I don’t like that Sesame Street allows for that, even if it was inevitable. I’ve seen all the stuff about Sesame Street potentially being gone after the next few years. While the program has changed a lot, mostly for worse than for better, it still is positive and it still should exist. If these products are going to remind children to listen, think, and create like they learn on the show then I can’t really complain. It’s just too bad it turned out this way. I should also say that I am a big collector of Sesame Street and own a lot of ridiculous stuff. I have what I think is some kind of carrying case from the 1970s, (Grover, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster) stuffed animals, magazines, coloring books, records and more. I don’t need any of it, but I buy it anyway. I’d have none of it if Sesame Street never fully committed to commercialization. I just bought a coloring book from 1987 yesterday. All this is to say that my relationship with the commercialization of Sesame Street is complicated. Anyway, I’m excited to be back and there’s good things coming!

1. “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?” composed by Joe Raposo

2. “Sing” by Big Bird

3. “The Skin I’m In” by Baby Ray Franklin

4. “Sesame Street Fever” by Robin Gibb, Bert, Count von Count, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster

5. “Bein’ Green” by Kermit the Frog

6. “Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder (who was on episode 0514, season four in1973)

7. “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel (who was in season 20 in 1989)

8. “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction (who were on episode 4510, season 45, in 2013)

9. “Soldier” by Destiny’s Child (who were on episode 3984, season 33, in 2002)

10. “I Can Love You Better” by The Chicks (who were on episode 3996, season 33, in 2002)

1. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/22/nyregion/elmo-the-spirit-of-christmas.html?smid=url-share.