Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990 TAG: 9005230386
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Bart, with his overbite and backtalk ("Don't have a cow, man!"), is fast becoming an icon of American pop culture, helped by a multimillion-dollar merchandising blitz from Fox Broadcasting Co.
The scene-stealer on the runaway hit TV show also stars in Butterfinger candy bar commercials and there are plans for a starring role in a Nintendo video game. Mattel Inc. promises Bart dolls and action figures among more than 200 Simpsons products entering stores.
Not bad for a 10-year-old kid with only eight fingers, eh? But his attitude bothers some critical school officials.
Last month, Principal Bill Krumnow of Lutz Elementary School in Ballville Township, Ohio, banned Bart's "Underachiever: And Proud of It, Man," T-shirt.
"To be proud of being an incompetent is a contradiction of what we stand for," Krumnow said.
The shirt also was banned at Cambridge Elementary School in Orange, Calif., and last week at Taylor Mill Elementary School in Kentucky.
Even drug czar William Bennett took a swipe at Bart. On a May 16 tour of a Pittsburgh drug-treatment center, Bennett told recovering addicts they shouldn't follow Bart's lead as an underachiever.
"You guys aren't watching `The Simpsons,' are you? That's not going to help you any," said Bennett.
Some authorities disagree with Bart's critics.
"I think the Simpson family is one of the few thoughtful cartoons on commercial broadcasting," said Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, a lobby and watchdog group based in Cambridge, Mass.
"How can you teach the Constitution if you ban T-shirts?" she asked.
And Fox executives stress they're serious about Bart's image.
"We're sensitive to it, but you can't do your show for three [school] principals," said "Simpsons" co-producer James L. Brooks.
Brooks said he frequently discusses the show with parents, educators and child psychologists.
"I know from my own childhood that I was messed up most by the portrayal of perfect families," Brooks said. "When you couldn't live up to them then you started to think something was wrong with yours."
by CNB