Clever Marketing For Moms

I've been looking into purchasing Eli some sort of stimulting toy he can safely play in once he's a bit older. He rarely gets to use his floor gym since Owen's not quite old enough to know you're not supposed to smother and maul babies. This one really appealed to me. I usually don't like the gaudy plastic, loud, obnoxious toys. They annoy me. The noise grates and I sometimes fear my child will go into convulsions over the flashing lights. You know, strobe lights can induce seizures. But this toy looks SO wonderful. I REALLY want it. I'm totally weirding myself out I want it so badly. Then I realized why that is. If I really look at the picture, I see the attraction. The baby sits in this toy in a sterile-like clean, peaceful room. A perfectly-pressed, white couch with plump, unused pillows on a cream-colored carpet. Even the windows are hand-print free, and the pictures on the wall aren't even a tiny bit crooked! There is not a single toy scattered on the floor. No stains on the carpet. No siblings running amok, screaming their heads off. I don't want the toy; I want the scenario. Clever marketing indeed! (For your own sake, I will not include a photo of what my living room would look like with this toy in it. Let's just say, this purchase wouldn't live up to its promise!) We all know no one really wants a life like the one pictured above. Life is messy, and its more fun when I don't worry about perfection. But there are days...