Did AOL come down on Elmo? (3 Viewers)

[Dave Poehlman]

I realize alot of you probably don't watch Elmo's World. But, my son and I do when we're getting ready for daycare in the morning.

Anyway.. Elmo's computer used to run around saying "You've got mail!" in an AOL-esque voice whenever he got an email.

Recently.. that's been replaced by "Elmo's got mail!" (even on the older episodes) and it intriqued me.

AOL is a sponsor of Sesame Street as far as I know.. do they have the rights to the "you've got mail" phrase?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes, they do

 

[David Forbes]

I wondered about that myself. I just saw a new episode with my son last night. First time we've watched it in a while.....

 

[MickeS]

I think AOL owns pretty much everything these days. My wife works for them, and it's incredible the number of affiliates and partners they have. Incredible as in "scary".

Do they own any of the network stations? I assume they do.

/Mike

 

[Parker Clack]

Yes that is a shame. I watch Elmo's World with my daughter all the time and I noticed it had changed. That is too bad that AOL is that money hungry that they can't support a PBS program. They are getting to be like CNN is refusing to allow any studio to use their newsmen, etc. in their movies anymore. (Not that that really matters IMO).

Parker

 

[MickeS]

They are getting to be like CNN

CNN is owned by AOL...

/Mike

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Actually, I did a search on this subject and found this tidbit:

As it happens, one Sesame Street corporate sponsor is a certain online service that by now has established "You've got mail" as the company's own widely recognized catch phrase.

A Sesame Workshop spokeswoman says the line on Elmo's World will be changed to a more generic "You've got e-mail" by summer. But that doesn't change the fact that, for more than a year, America Online is scoring a juicy product placement in the once-sacrosanct Sesame Street.

It seems the fans of Sesame Street came down to have the AOL-ism ousted. Sesame Street has been mocking corporate sponsorship for years with their "Brought to you by the letter..." and to introduce an AOL catch phrase went against that philosophy.