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Sam is not yet 2．He watches almost no TV and is taken on daily walks through the zoo, so it was not surprising when he pointed to an elephant and said,“Ella．”What was unexpected was when he pointed to his diaper(尿布)and said, “Elmo．”
In Sam's world, Elmo doesn't live on Sesame Street．He is the cheerful face of Pampers, printed on the waistband, requested at every change．The little image has made Pampers Sam's diaper of choice and Pampers supplier Procter ＆ Gamble very happy．If Sam's interest holds, his parents will buy more than  2,000 worth of Pampers before their son is potty(便壶)trained．And, the chances are, others who love Sam will encourage that change with the Sesame Street Potty Elmo and over time so large an amount of Elmo equipment that Sam's family may feel they live on the street．
Sam is but one of the army of tiny consumers．In the United States, children recognize product patterns by 18 months, according to Boston College professor Juliet Schor, and, by 2, many ask for products by brand name．Some parents report that baby's first word was not “mama”or“dada”but“Coke”－which makes sense considering that 26 percent of kids 2 and under have a TV in their room and the average American child sees some 40,000 advertisements a year．That in turn helps explain why the United States, with 4．5 percent of the world's population, buys 45 percent of the global toy production．American kids get an average of 70 new toys a year, calculates Schor, who surveyed 300 children for her new book, Born to Buy．
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