At first I was a little bit disconcerted at yet another cartoon character diving into the world of product endorsement. I get a little agitated when I feel like my child is a target of marketing. (Don't get me started on the array of Spider-Man toys available to my young son, even though the movie came with a PG-13 rating.)

At any rate, SpongeBob SquarePants is teaming up with Boskovich Farms as part of a campaign to get kids to eat (and parents to buy) carrots, spinach and other fruits and veggies. I feel less annoyed, however, when I remember the spinach-peddling Popeye of my childhood and how I wouldn't eat a bite of the green stuff unless I thought it came from the can with his image on the label. It wasn't until many years later that I found out my mom was fooling me with a can she'd saved, and she was buying the generic stuff for 10 cents a can the whole time. Good thinking, Mom.