Fruit Salad, the great connector
March 4th, 2008 | by Mark Fusco |Tonight’s the first time I’ve caught the show “Carpoolers” on ABC. I’ve always been aware of the show, but never found any motivation to watch — until tonight’s episode.
While channel surfing earlier this evening to just have some ambient noise while doing some work, I stopped momentarily on ABC for no real reason other than my attention being diverted away from the television remote. In that moment of time, a scene came on where one of the characters, Aubrey, is taking his little girl to take you daughter to work day, and she is riding along with the other adult members of the carpool.
The moment that caught my attention was the little girl singing the “fruit salad, yummy yummy” song by the Wiggles. I was instantly hooked, and now totally diverted from what I was doing, to focus on the show.
I have two small children, and they love the Wiggles. Additionally, the Wiggles are the one child-based act that doesn’t disturb me with their content or just annoy the tar out of me with cuteness. That connection with the familiar, hooked me into the show. It wasn’t my familiarity with the product, nor the design of the packaging. I didn’t care about any of the industry reviews and reviews by my peers didn’t sway any interest in me.
It was a moment in a scene that played a snippet of a goofy song about fruit salad that brought back fun memories of my children growing up. The show connected with me.
There’s an important lesson to be learned in there, somewhere.