Elmo’s Worth More Than a Tickle After Christmas, select “Tickle Me Elmo” ‘s will stop giggling and announce to five people that they are winners of a big-money sweekstakes. The strategem is praised breathlessly by the Toy Indiustry Association, but critics are incensed at an insidious marketing scheme to get parents to buy a toy for their children because they lust after a boon for themselves. Wired [I share that concern but have a more basic one; what if it belongs to a child too young and unsophisticated to understand the congratulatory announcement? Will parents have to take the toy away from their uncomprehending child and play with it all day on the designated day to satisfy themselves that they’re not the big winner?]