Dive Brief:

• Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group that owns the rights to Sesame Street characters, has joined with the Produce Marketing Association to promote fruit and vegetable consumption as part of the "Let's Move" initiative.
• Children's favorites such as Big Bird and Elmo will urge folks to eat more healthily and exercise. The characters will appear on bags of produce and on in-store displays.
• "Let's Move" is the brainchild of First Lady Michelle Obama. Sesame Workshop waived all licensing fees for Let's Move -- giving free use of its multimillion-dollar brands.

Dive Insight:

We have nothing but good to say about "Let's Move." And we're consistently impressed by the Produce Marketing Association, which is one of the more innovative food-marketing associations in the country. And of course we love Sesame Street. Everyone loves Sesame Street.

But there's something about this deal that leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth. First, although we're pleased the characters will be used to market healthy stuff to children, we don't like the idea of any marketing aimed at kids. Second, Sesame Street and the Sesame Workshop are tied to (but not controlled by) public television. It seems to us that this deal plays into people's fears that public TV is a tool of the Democratic party. And that can't be good for public TV.