The Simpsons fans stunned after learning why Maggie was scanned in opening credits

There's a hilarious reason why Maggie from The Simpsons is scanned in the opening credits.

When you sit down to watch an episode of The Simpsons in a desperate bid to relive your childhood and take your mind off yet another year flying by, you may not pay proper attention to the sitcom's opening credits.

However, if you've ever wondered why Maggie is scanned as part of Marge's shop at the supermarket, then ponder no longer, because your confusion is about to be left in 2023.

In the opening credits to the iconic animated sitcom, you can see Bart drawing on the blackboard, Homer being irresponsible at the Nuclear Power Plant and Marge not paying enough attention at the supermarket, which leads to her adorable baby daughter being scanned at the checkout, sucking her dummy as she goes.

We're all familiar with the sequence, but have you have stopped to really think about it? Why does Maggie get scanned? Does she even have a barcode on her?

Well, it turns out there is a reason for this particular act - and in typical The Simpsons fashion - it's an Easter Egg.

Disney

In early episodes of The Simpsons, the cash register charges $847.63 for the youngest Simpson - potentially not that much in terms of how much a human life costs, but a figure which fit with a fact at the time.

Show creator Matt Groening has previously confirmed that in the year The Simpsons was released (1989) the estimated monthly cost of raising a child in the US was – you guessed it – $847.63.

The figure was the creator's inside joke, though it has changed over the years.

More recently, viewers could see Marge's total shopping bill come in at $243.26 before Maggie passes through, at which point it doubles to $486.52.

Unfortunately, the cost of raising a child hasn't decreased - instead, the creators decided to change the figure to reflect the fact that kids are still costly, without tying themselves to a figure that would quickly change.

Disney

Learning that there's an actual reason tied to Maggie being scanned, and that it's not just another quip at how chaotic the family is, has left fans of the show stunned.

After X - formerly known as Twitter - account Uber Facts shared the revelation last month, one person wrote: "I’ve always wondered about that. Not kidding."

Another Simpsons fan previously responded to the news with a gif reading 'you just blew my mind', while others couldn't resist pointing out that the cost of raising a child has risen steeply since the show first aired.

"That’s one month of daycare for an infant (if you’re lucky)," one wrote years after the first episodes.

In case you were wondering, last year analysis from the Brookings Institution revealed that the cost to raise a child in the US now will set you back a whopping $310,000.

With all those zeroes, I think the Simpsons' cash register is going to need a bigger screen.

Topics: US News, World News, Film and TV, The Simpsons, Social Media

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.