MOVIE PROMOTION All that for a cat? Some smell a rat

Buy this! Buy that! says Cat in the Hat.
WASHINGTON POST
"The Cat in the Hat" opened last week. And corporate sponsors are at a peak.
Hershey, Rayovac, MasterCard too. Lots of firms want to hawk products to you.
Cookies, mops -- even mail. The movie's become one great big sale.
With Mike Myers playing the title Dr. Seuss character, dozens of companies are betting that the film will be one of the holiday season's biggest hits.
'Culinary technology'
Kellogg Co. is producing what it calls a "breakthrough in culinary technology" -- a limited-edition cereal with distinct red and white stripes in each piece. Kraft Foods Inc. is filling some Oreos with red and white stripes. The U.S. Postal Service is hand-stamping its mail with holiday greetings from the Cat himself.
Corporate tie-ins make "The Cat in the Hat" one of the largest business-backed films in Hollywood history.
Twelve companies, promoting more than 40 different brands, are the official corporate "Cat sponsors," creating new products, running contests for toys, shopping sprees, trips and, of course, tickets to the movie. Thirty other retailers signed on to offer special Cat activities in thousands of stores. And 75 more companies are making hundreds of "Cat in the Hat" products.
The licensed goods include the standard T-shirts and plush animals, and more unusual things, such as flossing toothpicks and cat toys.
At or near the top
"It's definitely one of the most well-supported films in the promotional world," said Mitch Litvak, president of the L.A. Office, a marketing firm that specializes in partnerships between companies and movies, television shows and musicians. Litvak said there are no precise numbers on which movie has the most corporate tie-ins, but "it's definitely up there when you're talking about this number of different brands involved. I would gamble it's the top."
That troubles some advocates for children. "A few years ago children's movies didn't have corporate sponsors at all," said Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and co-founder of the coalition Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children. "There's been such an escalation that now going to the movies is simply an opportunity for corporations to manipulate kids. It's going to get to where every minute of children's entertainment will be sponsored by somebody and you can no longer go to a movie that's just a movie."
As for "The Cat in the Hat," she said, "There's something sad about a beloved icon for children becoming a shill for corporate products."
Allen Kanner, a California psychologist and co-editor of "Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World," urges parents not to take their kids to the movie, to send a message "they are tired of kids being sold as audience share to corporate sponsors."
No apologies here
Dr. Seuss Enterprises LP, which owns the rights to the author's works and approved corporate sponsors for the film version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," makes no apology.
"This is one of the largest promotional programs put into place because it's such a wonderful piece of Americana, and companies want to be associated in these times with something very American and very beloved," said Susan Brandt, vice president of licensing and marketing at Dr. Seuss Enterprises. The company is headed by Audrey Geisel, the widow of Dr. Seuss (whose real name was Theodor Geisel).
Audrey Geisel is sensitive to the food partnerships, Brandt said. For example, while it's OK for food to be shaped in the form of the striped hat, "she doesn't want people eating the cat."