Nickelodeon knew how to manipulate kids

[blaincorrous]

To me, indulging our AB or DL sides calls back to moments of fixation we normally experience in childhood.

I recently had a good long think about that in terms of classic Nickelodeon shows. People getting slimed from mysterious magic holes that open in the rafters of a Canadian soundstage. People falling down trap doors. Characters getting flushed down toilets and drains. To take darker turns, tropes of getting “sent to the shadow dimension” in westernized dubbed anime.

And, yes, wetting your pants or diapers like it’s a gag on a kids show. Seriously, Amanda Bynes had a skit show where she outright wet herself while sitting down to dinner at a restaurant. I thought that was unexpected and my younger mind thought it was a risky choice in the writers room.

I’m sure there are names for these sorts of fixations that kids shows and Nickelodeon in particular were so skilled at manipulating. I can’t be the only one who had these sorts of fixations.

 

[TheGrimmRetails]

I think you referenced You Can't Do that On Television, which is some of the earliest instances of kids wearing diapers and dressing like babies that I personally remember. But I don't think they "influenced" us so much as they just awakened what was already there.

 

[blaincorrous]

I think you referenced You Can't Do that On Television, which is some of the earliest instances of kids wearing diapers and dressing like babies that I personally remember. But I don't think they "influenced" us so much as they just awakened what was already there.

Yes, the Canadian callout above was referencing YCDTOT. I honestly think it’s all connected. But no, I’m not claiming Nickelodeon made anyone ABDL. Nothing so simplistic as that. Maybe we got a shot of reinforcing imagery at the perfect moment to propel us on a path, but that’s hardly a point of responsibility for anyone involved in media production.

I will say I don’t believe any of us are “born this way” like you could say with LGBTQA+ communities. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re implying, but I don’t see how a preference for diapers, a modern invention and a human product, could be innate.

 

[AJFan2020]

For me it goes back to before I knew about Nickelodeon.

I remember Hugs and Tugs from the Care Bears, Baby Ribbon (from MLP G1 back in the 1980s) (who was rarely (if ever) diapered, but still made an impression on me) and Whopper from the Pound Puppies (also in the 1980s). For me, this had more of an effect than anything on Nickelodeon (even though I was a pretty big Rugrats fan from the mid 90s until the mid 2000s or so).

 

[blaincorrous]

For me it goes back to before I knew about Nickelodeon.

I remember Hugs and Tugs from the Care Bears, Baby Ribbon (from MLP G1 back in the 1980s) (who was rarely (if ever) diapered, but still made an impression on me) and Whopper from the Pound Puppies (also in the 1980s). For me, this had more of an effect than anything on Nickelodeon (even though I was a pretty big Rugrats fan from the mid 90s until the mid 2000s or so).

I remember the Care Bears. I endured merciless teasing in first grade from liking them. Kids are cruel.

The thing that really hooked me was the “Care Bear Stare”. That was a gimmick in the same vein as the other things I called out. If it wasn’t for that element, Care Bears would have slipped under my radar.

 

[sinceiwassmall]

To me, indulging our AB or DL sides calls back to moments of fixation we normally experience in childhood.

I recently had a good long think about that in terms of classic Nickelodeon shows. People getting slimed from mysterious magic holes that open in the rafters of a Canadian soundstage. People falling down trap doors. Characters getting flushed down toilets and drains. To take darker turns, tropes of getting “sent to the shadow dimension” in westernized dubbed anime.

And, yes, wetting your pants or diapers like it’s a gag on a kids show. Seriously, Amanda Bynes had a skit show where she outright wet herself while sitting down to dinner at a restaurant. I thought that was unexpected and my younger mind thought it was a risky choice in the writers room.

I’m sure there are names for these sorts of fixations that kids shows and Nickelodeon in particular were so skilled at manipulating. I can’t be the only one who had these sorts of fixations.

Interesting thread. I would guess it’s more likely there were/are quietly, probably secretly ABDL-inclined people in the writer’s room for some shows rather than producers setting out to manipulate those feelings in kids.

.Just a guess though.

Potty accidents, bedwetting and diapers are such territory for embarrassment as kids, with or without any extra-complicated secret feelings about them that show up later.