Have you ever seen the commercials for the Smooth Away? It’s one of those “As Seen on TV” types of products, and there’s a commercial for it that’s in somewhat heavy rotation on Nick Jr. I’d heard of the product but never really thought much about it until I’ve been driving our niece to school this week (she’s staying with us while her mom’s out of town) and have passed a Walgreens on the way there and back. It’s one of the Walgreens stores that has the logo right over the front door, unlike the store right near our house that we pass every day.

As we drove by the store yesterday morning, Becca got all excited and exclaimed, “There’s Smoovaway!”. It took a while (and another time or two of passing the store) before I understood exactly what she was saying and figured out that she was talking about that specific Walgreens store. But it wasn’t until I was sitting in the living room today while the television was on (and tuned to Nick Jr.) that I heard Becca saying the same thing again (“There’s Smoovaway!”), so I looked up at the television screen and noticed this:

See the Walgreens logo to the left of the store name? That’s the same one that’s on the store we’ve been passing on the way to and from D’s school.

I guess Becca now thinks that’s what the store is called – Smooth Away. I suppose it could be worse – at least it’s a product that’s not completely inappropriate to be seen during preschool programming. Then again, 3-year-olds aren’t exactly shaving yet, so I’m not sure what benefit there is to playing the ad during those shows. I know that I’m certainly not sitting glued to the commercials that come on (obviously). But Becca’s definitely paying attention.

So, I guess I’m going to have to start monitoring exactly what’s on during commercial breaks as much I do the specific shows the girls are watching – and stick more with OnDemand, DVDs and the Disney Channel, which are all (mostly) commercial-free. Or I could cut the television watching altogether, I suppose.

Hmm, let’s not go too overboard here…  LOL

So I’m curious what other parents opinions are here. What do you think about commercials for non-kid-oriented products playing during shows specifically aimed at young children? Do you limit your preschooler’s television to commercial-free programming?

PS – the mentioning of a specific store and product in this post is not to be construed as advertising or promoting them in any way. They simply happened to be part of a funny story that I wanted to share.