Disney fires back at Baby Einstein report

BURBANK, Calif., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Walt Disney Company is demanding the University of Washington take back what it called an “inflammatory” report about its Baby Einstein products.

The UW news release in question stated that a research study had concluded that babies not only did not learn from the infant-oriented Einstein products, but on average understood as many as eight fewer words than same-age children who didn’t watch the line of videos.

Disney President and CEO Robert Iger said in his letter to the university president that the release was riddle with errors and had “distorted the actual findings and conclusions that the study purported to make.” Iger contended the study was actually much smaller than the release said, and was of “doubtful” methodology.

There was no official response from the university Tuesday. However, the Denver Post said it had interviewed one of the study authors who said: "Babies don't learn from (television) screen. We didn't find benefit. We found harm."

Baby Einstein was created in Denver and racks up about $200 million in annual sales for California-based Disney, the newspaper said.