Spiderman Program Explanation Defies Logic

I've stayed out of the fray on the Spiderman issue since it's been pretty much covered to death everywhere else. I thought it was interesting though how MLB talked up the program as a way to reach out to kids... but they're getting paid for it. If baseball wanted to reach out to kids, wouldn't a more traditional marketing approach be to actually get your product in front of kids somehow? You know - send ballplayers to schools or parks around town. Something like that. Yes, it costs money, but that's what businesses generally have to do in order to generate interest and revenue.

More power to baseball if the Spiderman following is so strong that small children will encourage their parents to buy baseball tickets and merchandise because they've seen Spidey logos on the on-deck circles and on the bases. If MLB was able to generate interest and sales by getting another company to pay them for it, more power to them, and they must be much smarter than I (and most of the rest of you) give them credit for.

I don't think that's what happened though. This was just a money grab, and that's the way of the world today. Someone just reacted and half-thought through the reaching out to kids statement.