Columnist Susan Snyder: Traveling parents say hello, dolly

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 8:18 a.m.

A little guilt can go a long way toward promoting capitalism.

A Maine woman has created My Mommy and My Daddy dolls that look like parents and record personal messages that children can play back when Mom or Dad are away. Being marketed as a comfort device for children, these dolls likely offer at least as much consolation to parents who travel often.

My Mommy can hold 20 seconds of voice message -- a time period into which a mother could cram the entire history of the world, if she needed to:

"Here's a kiss good night. Pick up the wet towels. Turn your clothes right-side out before you put them in the hamper. Don't hit your sister. Do your homework before you do e-mail and don't hit your sister."

My Daddy dolls also hold 20 seconds of voice messages, although it's not obvious as to why:

"I don't know. Ask your mother."

Some people evidently have higher thresholds for guilt.

Last week U.S. Forest Service workers confiscated three 800-year-old rock art panels from a Reno home, where two were proudly displayed in the front yard as landscape accoutrements.

The panels had been chipped from boulders on Peavine Peak, which is outside Verdi, federal authorities said in Associated Press reports last week. They had been removed with hand tools. An anonymous tipster who spotted the panels alerted the police.

It is unclear whether those who live in the home where the art was found are the ones who stole it, or whether they're just suckers for a good marketing scheme.

(That doll woman in Maine might be onto something ...)

U.S. taxi drivers are at this very minute thanking whatever guides their fates that they do not drive in Tokyo.

The Sanrio company has put 10 pink and powder-blue Hello Kitty cabs on the streets. The pastel nightmares have Hello Kitty decals on the outside and Hello Kitty rain ponchos and umbrellas inside for customers' use.

And to help support the idea that the West does not have the craziest culture on the planet, the government-supported Singapore Kindness Movement has started a wedding punctuality drive. Couples receive free punctuality reminder cards to insert into their invitations.

Previous movements by the kindness police have included encouraging motorists to wave at each other. (With all five fingers, of course.)

And last in this week's list of shameless marketing schemes, keep the old peepers peeled for McDonald's latest offering -- an adult Happy Meal. The Go Active meal will consist of a salad, exercise booklet and pedometer.

The announcement came two weeks after a federal judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit in which McDonald's was accused of hiding the health risks of eating Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets. The judge previously dismissed a suit accusing McDonald's of making people fat.

Apparently, a segment of the population with enough money to hire a lawyer must be told that chickens don't have McNuggets and french fries ain't celery sticks.

I'm thinking lawsuit No. 3 will accuse Go Active meals of hiding the fact that pedometers don't work when you're sitting on the sofa.