Complaints about the political brainwashing of children in Magnús Scheving’s LazyTown show in the United States appeared on the show’s online forum. A Texas-branded coffee mug in the hands of Robbie Rotten is a very insidious way to inject political messages into the subconscious of American children.
The producers of LazyTown are accused of trying to insinuate political propaganda against the President of the United States into the subconscious of children in their programs, which are shown on the children’s channel Nickelodeon. A man who calls himself Mark Sm., who claims to know the case personally, dismisses these accusations on the show’s website and says that it is a pure coincidence.
Robbie Rotten, better known in Iceland as Glanni glaepur, and played by Stefán Karl Stefánsson, can be seen in the episodes holding a mug with a picture of Texas and a star. It is said to be a cunning attempt to brainwash young Americans into believing that George W. Bush and Texas are both rotten. The accusations are made in the online discussion area of the children’s station Nickelodeon, where the shows are shown, and parents raise the question of whether the producers of the shows are becoming political and targeting the President of the United States. It is said that political messages that undermine Bush are being slipped into the children’s subconscious.
Does not interfere in internal affairs
It was not possible to reach Magnús Scheving, but Kjartan Már Kjartansson, the manager of LazyTown, told DV that a decision had been made to leave all comments on the web regardless of whether they were good or bad, as everyone is entitled to their opinions.
“There is absolutely no propaganda on our part. “A lazy town doesn’t meddle in the internal affairs of the United States,” said Kjartan Már. He added that Magnús Scheving didn’t have time to think about which of the U.S. candidates he prefers, and if he did, he probably wouldn’t reveal it.
Coffee is another force of fate in the elections
“This is an illustrative example of how extreme the stress has become during the election campaign. The difference has become so narrow and there is so much vibration that people can’t sneeze to the right without an ace that everything will go wrong. This is just the best publicity for LazyTown,” says manager Jón Hákon Magnússon, who has closely followed the run-up to the western presidential elections. “However, it should never happen that LazyTown loses its fortunes, that the coffee pot becomes the deciding factor in the elections. If so, Bush will surely be a big fan of LazyTown,” says Jón Hákon.
Dagblaðið Vísir – Volume 94 2004, Issue 234-Weekend Newspaper, Page 63
October 16, 2004
The president’s followers are worried.
“We sincerely hope that the show was not trying to subliminally message children or families about any of the candidates,” said Sarah McLallen, press secretary for the Republican Party of Texas.
It was reported in DV yesterday that complaints had appeared on the website of the American children’s television station Nickelodeon about “subliminal political messages” in the LazyTown episodes. Parents who saw the episode considered a coffee mug with a picture of the state of Texas in the hands of thug Robbie Rotten, played by Stefán Karl Stefánsson, children should be told that Texas, the home state of President George Bush, is rotten and so is the president.
Kjartan Már Kjartansson, director of LazyTown, denied that it was propaganda.
He said LazyTown does not interfere in internal affairs in the United States.
The presidential candidates Bush and John Kerry are closer to each other and the elections are around the corner. According to Jón Hákon Magnússon, public relations officer, such complaints are a sign of the enormous tremors that are currently taking place in the West.
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