It’s one thing for a huge drug company, manufacturer, trade group, or media conglomerate to use their considerable coffers to fund educational programs, but what about when the ultimate goal of those programs is to just advertise products, movies, and TV shows to kids and their parents under the guise of education? [More]
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Your Kids’ Lesson Plans Are Being Brought To You By Pfizer, WD-40, & Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
By 6.2.16
Chuck E. Cheese Trying To Woo Parents By Tweaking Its Food, Expanding Beer & Wine Options
By 10.2.15
After getting new owners last year, animatronic pizza wonderland Chuck E. Cheese is trying to lift flagging sales by aiming at a new — albeit very familiar — target demographic. We’ll give you a guess — it starts with an “M” and rhymes with “shmillennials.” [More]
Texas Roadhouse Serves Up Sangria To 2-Year-Old Girl
By 3.23.15
When you order a cranberry juice for your 2-year-old daughter and the server brings her a glass containing a dark red beverage, you probably wouldn’t think to sample the drink to make sure she hadn’t been given a glass full of boozy sangria. [More]
How McDonald’s Markets To Kids Through Moms & Teachers
By 3.20.15
McDonald’s has long been a target of critics of toy-filled Happy Meals who believe that these menu offerings are used to entice kids to eat fast food. The same goes with people who call for the retirement of Ronald McDonald (though one could argue that having a terrifying perma-grin clown as the face of your company isn’t exactly kid-friendly). But McDonald’s kid-targeted marketing doesn’t rely on Happy Meals; it extends into their schools and maybe even to their homes. [More]
Parents Using Uber To Chauffeur Kids To School, Even Though It’s Not Allowed
By 3.11.15
Rather than packing their kids onto a crowded bus in the morning or having to take time out of their morning schedule to get those students to school (or just making them walk, which is what legs were invented for), some parents are looking to ridesharing service Uber to ferry their youngsters around — even though it’s against the company’s own rules. [More]
Why Is Amazon Mom Called Amazon Family Outside Of The U.S.?
By 3.3.15
Amazon does business in many different countries, and knows how to market to people all over the world. The Amazon Mom program started a few years ago, providing special discounts and fast shipping on items needed for babies. Yet why is it called “Amazon Mom?” Most primary caregivers are mothers, but there are plenty of children being raised by single fathers or two fathers: don’t they buy diapers, too? [More]
Mother Of Autistic Boy Claims IKEA Discriminated Against Her Son
By 2.13.15
IKEA has three prongs to its stores’ playroom policy — a height restriction, a potty-training requirement, and no adults. A Kansas mom says this last rule is discriminatory to her son and other children with autism who require the presence of an adult caregiver. [More]
Chipotle Lacks Diaper Changing Table, Mom Changes Toddler On The Dining Table Instead
By 9.29.14
Chipotle has a kids’ menu with tiny quesadillas and organic milk, and offers high chairs in its dining rooms. They seemed to Chad like an establishment that welcomes and accommodates families with small children. When his wife took their 16-month-old daughter for a diaper change, though, she found no changing table. So she did the logical thing and changed the tot’s dirty diaper on a table in the dining area. Wait, what? [More]
Attention Parents: The LEGO Store Is Not A Day Care Center
By 8.7.14
LEGO stores are fun and amazing places for children, collectors, and for human beings in general. However, there is one thing they are not: a child care service where parents can ditch their kids while they shop. A mother from Long Island learned this earlier this week after she was arrested when she returned to the store to pick up her 7-year-old son. [More]
American Airlines Tells Parents To Not Put Baby In Safety Seat Because It Will Delay Takeoff
By 6.24.14
I probably fly about as much as the average American adult, but even in my modest travels I’ve had some odd, seemingly nit-picky reasons for takeoff delays — a broken coffee machine, a toilet that didn’t have enough “blue juice” in the tank and had to be manually filled — that held up the flight for 30 minutes or more. But the crew of an American Airlines commuter plane recently determined that taking a minute to ensure the safety of a baby was less important than avoiding an FAA fine for a late departure. [More]
Restaurant Knocks $5 Off Brunch Bill For “Well Behaved Kids”
By 5.12.14
While parents who let their kids run wild in public are often the object of (much-deserved) scorn and derision, moms and dads whose youngsters behave themselves rarely get the high-five they deserve for reducing the world’s general level of brattiness. But yesterday, a restaurant in Canada decided that a family with a non-rowdy kid deserved a break on their bill. [More]
Group Calls On Parents To Tear Kids Away From TV, Computer Screens For A Week
By 5.2.14
Not so long ago, people would have laughed at the idea that elementary school kids would have smartphones, or that every member of a family would have a TV in his/her room, or that potty-training toilets would be designed to hold a computer screen to placate the defecating infant. In an effort to remind people that there is life outside of the LCD screens they hold in their hands, one group is asking parents to go screen-free next week. [More]
Baby Allowed Inside Fanciest Restaurant In Chicago, Cries
By 1.14.14
Alinea in Chicago is an expensive molecular gastronomy restaurant. It is so exclusive and fancy that most adults probably imagine that they aren’t allowed inside. Apparently the question of “can I bring my infant?” has never come up…until this weekend. [More]
Report: Nation’s Top Hospitals Not Pushing Baby Formula On New Moms
By 10.29.13
From diapers to formula to clothing and other infant-care items, newborns are a huge source of revenue to numerous industries. That’s why some of these businesses put together new-mom goodie bags to be handed out at maternity wards, hoping to create loyal customers from the start. Some people are concerned that the practice of including free formula in these bags makes it too easy for a new mom to avoid nursing her child. And according to a new survey, many of the nation’s best hospitals are saying no to the goodie bags. [More]
Angry Mom Punishes Daughters, Makes Profit, By Auctioning Off Their One Direction Tickets
By 9.20.13
I’m not a parent, but I do remember being a horrible teenager and occasionally being yelled at by my much put-upon mother. Like most parents, there were times when she took items and privileges away from me as punishment, but I don’t think she ever made a hefty profit off me by selling anything — and venting angrily — on eBay. [More]
Are Crying Kids Reason To Be Booted From An Airplane? US Airways Thinks So
By 8.2.13
We see a lot of stories about passengers being removed from airplanes, some of which seem legitimate (intoxicated, verbally abusive travelers) and others that don’t (people who ask a flight attendant one too many questions). Here’s the story of a Consumerist reader who, along with her two young sons, was ejected from a flight because her crying kids were delaying takeoff — but is that really reason enough? [More]
Mother’s Day Cards For Dads: A Sweet Gesture Or Holiday Double-Dipping?
By 5.13.13
“Leave it to Hallmark to double-dip on holidays,” reader Mark noted when he snapped a picture of this card using our Tipster App. “Father’s Day is next month, people.” Well, yes, but there are also legitimate reasons why someone would buy a card like this. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Dependent Mom And Free Fast Food
By 4.15.13
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s too busy staring at a blank spot on the wall. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. Also, to celebrate federal income tax deadline day, we link some coupons for free fast food deals good for today only.
This should be the last installment of Ask Tax Dad for 2013: tune in next year when Tax Cat comes back, Tax Dad returns, or maybe Tax Cat’s dad will show up to handle your tax questions. [More]
