Kissing the Ram - that’s brand awareness

January 20, 2008 by Barbara.

Before we could go into Melissa’s house on Thursday night, Reid had to stop and kiss the (Dodge) ram on the front of our Caliber. Now, I’ve written before about how much I like the Caliber but I’ve never kissed it. Reid mentions the rams on the car - on the grill at the front, on the steering wheel and maybe elsewhere - most times when we see sheep and always when we talk about the names for the mama, daddy, and baby sheep. In addition to the two-prong outlet, multiple glove compartments with a chill zone, and the reclining back seat, the Caliber is family-friendly for having such a cool logo. (Yes, yes, I know it is on all Dodge vehicle but my story is about *our* car.)

Thinking of Reid’s relationship with brands, I should also report that she has long associated the “golden arches” with hamburgers but has always called it “Old McDonald’s”. Last week after swimming, Ken took Reid for supper while I went out with Melissa. When he told her he was taking her to McDonald’s, though, she looked a bit disappointed and said that it wasn’t her favourite restaurant. Surprised, Ken asked her what was her favourite restauarant. Reid replied, “*Old* McDonald’s”. Ken explained that they were one and the same and so Reid asked if McDonald’s was Ken’s favourite restaurant. He said it is his least favourite and Reid found this a bit shocking. The conversation turned to what restaurant Ken preferred and he couldn’t name one. Reid asked Ken what he would be ordering for himself and he said that he would have a vanilla milkshake. Reid suggested that strawberry milkshakes are very good but Ken stuck with vanilla. Between Reid’s persuasive tone of voice, the sparkle of her eyes and the height of her eyebrows, it was pretty clear that strawberry is Reid’s preferred flavour. Ken had asked me what Reid’s usual order was and I’d told him: hamburger with no pickle, fries and chocolate milk. He asked about a toy. Goodness, I thought, I really am the one to blame for Reid’s hamburger addiction. I changed the order to a Hamburger Happy Meal with a girl toy, specified the food and drink and wondered if Reid would have ordered for herself. Ken’s Aunt Darla sent some McDonald’s gift certificates at Christmas from which Reid and I will get the most use.

Reid is also able to identify the tuna we get by it’s can - Cloverleaf, solid, white, low-sodium - although she doesn’t use the words. I imagine she can also identify the Kraft smooth peanut butter jar and instant Quaker oatmeal. I’m not sure what others she knows and I try to avoid taking her to the grocery store since I consider shopping to be private time but I bet there are others. Reid is an observant 3 year old. She would correct me to say that she is 3 AND A HALF but she can’t read or write and so I just won’t tell her.

Edited to add:

My niece, Sari, who is both a teacher and trained in early childhood education, sent me this and I thought it worth putting up here in the body of this post:

… Reid is in one of the first stages of “reading”.  Reading environmental print, aka brands, stores, restaurants, etc. helps kids with reading later.  In the Early Years classroom at my school, they have a bulletin board with all sorts of labels from cereal, Tim Horton’s stuff, etc. plastered all over it with a title that says, “We are Reading!”  I’m sure you already  know all of this, but I thought I’d point it out because I love hearing stories about kids learning to read!

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