The US-based advocacy group, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), filed a Federal Trade Commission Complaint against Baby Einstein in 2006 for making what it called unsubstantiated claims - that its videos were educational for babies.
After the complaint, Baby Einstein, which is owned by the Walt Disney company, changed some of the wording on its products and on the Baby Einstein website. But CCFC continued to campaign against the DVDs and Disney now says it will offer a full refund to 'leave it up to consumers' to decide. The terms and conditions of the offer state that it is for US customers only.
Dr Susan Linn, director of CCFC, said, 'Parents have a right to know there is no credible evidence that screen media is educational for babies. We urge parents who bought Baby Einstein videos to take advantage of Disney's refund offer. We hope that other baby media companies will follow suit.'
Disney responded by accusing Dr Linn of launching a 'smear campaign' and of spinning a simple, customer satisfaction action into a false admission of guilt.
Research published in January in the journal Acta Pedactricia found there was no evidence that DVDs aimed at boosting children's IQ have any educational benefits (News, 21 January).
