Some companies try a little too hard to appeal to tech-savvy parents. Smart PJs have a code printed on them that bring up a story on your smartphone when scanned by the company’s app. Really. This isn’t a gag.
This is clearly what it looks like when someone learns about QR codes and thinks they’re peachy keen, but doesn’t know what to do with them. Because wow, imagine explaining this to a babysitter:
“His favorite story is on the left buttcheek. Don’t go scanning his right butt, he hates that.”
Child Protective Services wouldn’t be able to keep up with the flood of phone calls.
Keep in mind there’s also no list of which stories are embedded into the jammies. So, despite the bargain price of $25 (off of the original $50), the app neglects the fact that your child will absolutely grow out of, wear through, and otherwise destroy these limited-use pajamas. I read to my son from books that that were handed down from my great-grandfather to my grandfather to my dad and then on to me.
First edition, no less.
Any parent can tell you, kids love books. Many households across the world regularly see children proudly pulling out his or her favorite books, dragging them around to be read over and over again. My house is one of those, so it’s hard to imagine my toddler pointing to his belly with the same pride while exclaiming,”Read me!” If you really want to read to your child from an electronic device, go ahead and do it. The options already available are numerous and varied. This scanning is a silly added step.
We’d love to talk more about the company, but other than the website, the only other information available comes from one tweet, made 198 days ago. For a company trying to build itself as place to go to for stories, it hasn’t done much to create its own.
Matt Algren, Ari Baronofksy, Dani Weiss-Bronstein, and Justin Davis contributed their snark to this article.
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