[rick_reno]

While I think exercise for kids is a great idea, I find it hard to believe this is the best choice they could have made to deliver the message. I'm writing Nickelodeon - I don't know about you, the last person I want giving my kids advice is that slimebag Bill Clinton. A man who disgraces the office of the President talking to kids. It's disgusting.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173025,00.html

NEW YORK — Bill Clinton is teaming with SpongeBob SquarePants (search) and Dora the Explorer (search) in a campaign to nudge kids to eat healthy foods and to get up off the couch and move, the former president and Nickelodeon (search) television executives announced Thursday.

"The idea that health decisions you make as kids could stop you from living your dream is heartbreaking to us," said Clinton, who will appear in public service announcements and in a town hall forum devoted to childhood obesity.

Clinton, who underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery in September 2004 and a follow-up procedure in March, was joined by Nickelodeon Networks President Herb Scannell, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and American Heart Association President Robert Eckel.

At a news conference announcing the effort at the Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem, Scannell said Nickelodeon and its affiliates would commit about $30 million worth of air time a year to the campaign as well as promoting it on Web sites, theme parks and live stage shows.

The network already broadcasts PSAs that promote exercise and healthy eating and has licensed its characters including SpongeBob and Dora to appear on bags of baby carrots and other vegetables.

The town hall forum with Clinton, moderated by newswoman Linda Ellerbee, is scheduled to air Nov. 13 on Nickelodeon.

[GunGoBoom]

I say anything to get us moving/exercising as a society is a good thing.

I find it amusing yet sad that one of the hot new hobbies of Americans is playing poker - is this really what we needed - another way to entertain ourselves while sitting on our fat lazy arses?

(this is not gun-related)

[Werewolf]

I've got 4 grandkids. They all love Sponge Bob. I don't get it the show entrances them - literally - I've got to mute the sound or even turn it off just to get their attention.

So if Mr. Clinton who happens to also be one of the most effective public speakers of our time chooses to use that skill to convince kids that eating healthy while watching Sponge Bob is a good thing then I'm all for it.

Besides he ain't the pres anymore... Maybe he's trying in his own way to make amends for past sins.

[Mulliga]

Meh. I doubt these campaigns actually DO anything. Whatever happened to good old marketing?

The best thing to do would be to sell more SpongeBob brand outdoors toys - balls, games, etc. That'd get kids off the couch, playing with the characters they like, and the TV execs would still get paid. Everyone wins.

[Henry Bowman]

I find it amusingly interesting that SpongeBob and Dora both have the (search) feature after their names, but Bill Clinton does not. Seems to me there are probably a lot of people who know both SpongeBob and Dora and would not know who Bill Clinton is (was).

[longeyes]

Now...the Bill Clinton exercise book would certainly be a funny one, wouldn't it? Chasing interns around the Oval Office, throwing open raincoats...

And, you know, the man doesn't look all that good these days... Caution is called for.