“TV commercials are entertaining, indeed. But they also can make you buy stuff you don't need.”
—Opening quote for The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Commercials
The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Commercials is a book in the Berenstain Bears series that was first published on April 10, 2007.
Summary[]
While watching TV, Brother and Sister become enamored with the products that have been shown on commercials. Mama is against the idea at first, but she instead comes up with a plan to teach the cubs to not believe everything they see on TV.
Plot[]
One afternoon, as Brother and Sister watched their favorite cartoons on TV, they saw commercials advertising foods, toys, and other items in which they ask Mama to buy it for them. When the cubs see a commercial for Super Cereal, they ask Mama to buy it for them, but she objects and tells them that they haven't eaten the cereal the cubs asked for a few days prior. After several days of pestering, Mama buys the cubs a box of Super Cereal and throws the other box of cereal in the trash.
Mama soon gets fed up with the commercials that Papa steps in. He takes notice of the watering can Mama ordered from Ms. Clara's Garden Show and goes to talk with the cubs about why it's important to be wise about the things they see in commercials, and can't buy them just because the spokesperson told them to. Brother and Sister agree to this, but shortly after, they go back to asking for things they saw on TV. Mama takes Papa aside and comes up with the idea of buying every toy, cereal, and candy the cubs are excited about under one condition: to never ask for another commercial-related thing until they've eaten both the Rainbow Swirl Bits and Super-Duper Sour Suckers, and played with both the Banana Invaders from Outer Space and Lovey Dovey Dolls for one month. Brother and Sister jump into Mama and Papa's arms in excitement.
The cubs' excitement soon went south as Brother and Sister were quite displeased with how the Rainbow Swirl Bits turned their milk purple and the remaining cereal mushy, the Banana Invaders from Outer Space that Brother played with were two plastic bananas with rocket guns and he couldn't do much with them, and the Lovey Dovey Dolls that Sister played with had their hair fall off. When the cubs tried the Super-Duper Sour Suckers, they both were unable to speak as the candy was, true to its name, much too sour. When they started watching TV again, Brother and Sister weren't very interested in the commercials that aired.
While Papa watched his favorite program Fishing with Uncle Finn one evening, he sees Uncle Finn advertising a Guaranteed Magic Light Fishing Lure, which he prepares to buy until Brother and Sister remind him that Uncle Finn may be exaggerating. Papa quickly changes his mind and resumes watching the program.