Whoooo Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea?

I don't even know where to begin on this one. After I got over the initial shocking realization of what it IS, I started thinking about the bigger implications.

Now I love SpongeBob. I actually used to watch it on a daily basis a few years ago. The artwork is what drew me in first. No, I take that back---it was actually Gary, SpongeBob's pet snail. Who meows like a cat. The bizarre-ness of a meowing snail forced be to sit down and watch for a bit...and THEN I realized that the artwork was pretty snazzy. The other thing I like about SpongeBob is if you're having a bad day, just watch a few episodes and voila! your troubles seem to disappear. He's such a happy little guy, always does the right thing.

Now I don't have kids, so I don't know how hard it is to take the rectal temperature of a sick, squirmy, two-year-old. I have probably repressed the memories of my own childhood experience, but I DO remember seeing my sister getting one. I think she just laid there and took it. But I am guessing the average kid, no matter how sick, probably does not dig this procedure.

I imagine the thought behind using SpongeBob was to play to the kid's affection of the character and use it as a tool to get the kid to do something unpleasant. I guess this is the same idea behind the Flintstone vitamins from when I was a kid.
But there is a HUGE difference though between this and a vitamin shaped like a dinosaur.

Is the kid going to go for it just because it is SpongeBob? Or perhaps will the whole thing backfire and traumatize little Susie or Timmy for life--being "violated" by the very thing that brings such joy and happiness? The whole thing seems a little creepy to me. And apparently it plays the theme song when the reading is completed.

I realize that character licensing is where all the money is, but man, they should have thought about this one just a teeeeeny bit longer.