When did I become a sucker for tacky movie merchandise?

I spoke before about Matthew's obsession with the movie Cars. This obsession has turned me into a fervent consumer of all Cars branded products. I never understood why parents got suckered into buying kid's movie crap merchandise. I'd see it - Spiderman pyjamas, Barbie bedspreads, Hannah Montana stationery - and wonder what the appeal was. Now I get it. And now here I am, the biggest sucker of all time. Brainwashed into buying any branded thing like a good consumer, no matter how pointless it is.

But now it's reached a level of silliness. So obsessed have I become, that a few days ago I succumbed to a thing of such ridiculousness it's not even funny: Cars Shapeable Foaming Soap. Made by Disney. Because yeah, that's who you want to buy your toiletries from. Classy. What, in the world, possessed me to put this thing in my basket and take it to the till? All I could think about was the look on Matthew's face when I start creating all kinds of cool foamy car shapes during his next bath.



Alas, my plan did not go accordingly. J was giving Matthew a bath last night, and I hurried in, excitedly blubbering "oh don't forget the shapeable foam!". J looked at me suspiciously, as I pulled out the canister. "No, it's fun, really." I promised.

As soon as J opened the bottle, it struck me - yucky chemicals. Who knows what type of toxic crap is in that container. I'm quite careful about not using too many chemicals in our home and especially around the kids. I grabbed the canister and scanned the ingredients. I had no clue what any of them meant... but then I figured, okay, it's Disney, how bad can it be?

The foam wass oddly rigid and puffy and had a very strong perfumey odour. Matthew looked decidedly unimpressed and went back to his floating plastic boats. Before J could do anything with it, I started with "Um, maybe don't do his hair." I imagined skin rashes and horrible reactions. Okay. "Actually, don't use it all." I was suddenly not liking this product at all. "In fact, would you mind washing it all off your hands in the sink over here?"

So there you have it, the evil marketing geniuses at Disney have got me over a barrel. Me - from a marketing background - who should know better and who is fully aware of the mania created around these kids' brands to get my dollars.

Now what am I going to do with this flipping can of foamy stuff?