Is Elmo A Bad Role Model?

Kotaku’s Kevin Wong wrote a piece titled “How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street,” in which he describes how the little red muppet changed the longtime PBS show for the worse. Wong argues that Elmo’s three-year-old personality, developed solely by Kevin Clash, is typically used to just be cute and marketable. Other muppets were used to teach lessons and relate to kids’ growing pains, like Telly (anxiety), Herry (big and awkward), and Big Bird, whose six-year-old personality is used to interpret more serious subjects. Elmo’s storylines almost never involve lessons, according to Wong, and sometimes even reinforce negative behavior. Which is problematic, because despite always being despised by the old school Henson performers, Elmo has become the face of the franchise, which is hard as Wong keeps trying to show his son Sesame Street without the little red menace.
So is Elmo a bad influence on kids? Well, the character properly debuted in 1984, which would be right around the start of the millennial generation. So you be the judge.

Read the full piece at Kotaku.com.

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