Toot! Too Much Thomas (with apologies to Jane A)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a toddler in possession of a television, must be in want of a Thomas wardrobe.

It all started with the two
boxes of Thomas clothes,
or maybe it was before
then when Jack received
two Thomas books (Jack
and Gordon of course)
when he was born. I had
been told that a mother I
knew had been scolded
by her son for not intro-
ducing him to Thomas
early enough. At the time
I was sceptical, but after
a week of Jack insisting
on wearing at least one
item of Thomas clothing
a day, though the more
he had on the happier he
was, I am beginning to
think it is true.
Jack is obsessed
with Thomas the tank
engine. My parents
bought two boxes of
Thomas clothes at a charity auction. At first he just played with the boxes and spent
a lot of time unpacking and packing them all day long. Then something
clicked in his brain and he started taking notice of what  was on the clothes. He'd point
at Thomas and say, "This!"
Now when he finds a Thomas t shirt or pair of underpants (yes, they do make them and don't
put them on your head for a laugh as Jack does not find this amusing) and demands to be
dressed in them. This is resulting in some very strange outfits but a very happy boy.

And the funny thing is that we borrowed the DVDs of Thomas thinking that he would love them. He got excited when he saw the DVD case and carried it around everywhere but when it came to actually watching Thomas, he lost interest pretty quickly. Well the stories are strange and rather dull, not even Ringo narrating can save them.
So as the professor suggested to me, it's all about the branding and I think she's onto something.
How else do you explain that an eighteen month old can recognise the ABC logo?