Sesame Street releases Cookie Monster NFTs
Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization responsible for the beloved children’s show Sesame Street, has unveiled its latest offering: a collection of Cookie Monster non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with a total of 5,555 editions available for purchase at $60 apiece.
C is for cookie; that’s good enough for me
The inaugural NFT depicts a digital image of Cookie Monster, captured standing by an oven, and serves as the first in a forthcoming series of Sesame Street character collectibles, as revealed by the co-founder of hosting platform Veve.
The drop is scheduled for March 19 on the VeVe digital collectibles app. Additional Sesame Street NFT collectibles will be released later in 2023.
Sesame Workshop’s decision to launch Cookie Monster NFTs has sparked apprehension among some diehard fans of the iconic children’s program. They worry that this move signals a departure from Sesame Street’s longstanding commitment to progressive values. Instead, it caters to a more mature audience rather than its original target demographic of young children.
An enthusiastic Sesame Street fan showed his disapproval of the new collection, stating:
“After decades of helping guide and teach generations of children with fun, imagination, and kindness. The final lesson from Sesame st is “The villains always win in the end”.”
A recent article in The New Yorker echoes this sentiment, drawing parallels between Cookie Monster’s experiences with digital images in the 1980s and 2000s, and Sesame Street’s current venture into the NFT market. The article argues that the digital depiction of cookies could never fully satisfy Cookie Monster’s desire for the real thing and that the compromises he made as an older, more disillusioned monster may foreshadow a similar fate for the beloved show.
Backlash from fandom won’t stop Sesame Street; NFTs will help children’s education
Despite the apprehension, Sesame Workshop has made it clear that the funds generated from the sale of NFTs will be channeled toward supporting the organization’s educational programs and outreach initiatives. Sesame Workshop has a storied history of using creative methods to teach children, starting with puppetry to impart basic skills like reading and counting, to more recent efforts to tackle complex topics such as racism and social justice.
The jury is still out on whether Sesame Workshop’s entry into the NFT market will be received positively or seen as a misstep that undermines the show’s fundamental values. Sesame Workshop is not unfamiliar with controversy, having weathered criticism in the past regarding topics such as Bert and Ernie’s sexual orientation and the portrayal of a homeless character.
At present, supporters of Sesame Street can procure the Cookie Monster NFTs through the Veve platform and have the choice to exchange them on secondary markets.
