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Last week, Channel One continued their marketing of violence to America’s youth. (Past crimes include: Ads for “The Quest”, “New York Undercover”, “The Shining”, “The Mummy”; reviews of “Kiss the Girls”, “Scream2”; and music on the in-school TV show from groups known for their violent lyrics: Bone Thugs and Marilyn Manson)
Children in schools that have a Channel One contract were shown a commercial for the PG13 movie “Bats”. This movie is filled with violent deaths, blood and gore. The movie is also filled with profanity. This is “F-word” level profanity.
Citizens in two Pennsylvania school districts advised Obligation of the “Bats” advertisement. (Obligation has been unable to get Channel One tapes and must rely on parents and teachers to report the contents of the show.) The Channel One TV show and ads are the same all over the nation, so if a school still has Channel One, they saw what children in Pennsylvania saw.
Jim Metrock, Obligation president, said, “I saw this movie on Friday, October 22, when I discovered Channel One and local schools urged children to see it. It’s as if these Channel One executives don’t have any respect, at all, for children. This movie was one mutilated body after another. The movie was saved from an ‘R’ rating because they used quick-cut camera techniques. This allowed children to hear the victims screaming, to see the blood, and to witness the torn-up bodies afterwards, but to be spared the actual ability to focus on the killing process when these bats brutally kill humans.”
“This is a very scary movie for children. It is a disgusting shame that this company is pushing this movie on teenagers. And it is a crime for them to push this violence on children as young as ten and eleven. I hope all school boards across our country decide to suspend showing Channel One until the community can reevaluate the contract.”
According to “Screen It!” Entertainment Reviews for Parents” (www.screenit.com), “Bats” has a violence rating of “Extreme”, Frightening/Tense Scenes” rating of “Heavy”, a “Guns/Weapons” rating of “Moderate”, and a profanity rating of “Heavy”.
Metrock said, “I know Channel One. They will quickly run a public service announcement about how awful violence is or do a series of reports on violence to counterbalance their marketing of violence. That won’t work anymore,”
Metrock said, “You have to remember that Channel One reviewed R-rated movies for children on their web site and have halted that since they have been under intense public scrutiny. They had no problem discussing “Pulp Fiction” with children and Channel One even told children that “Pulp Fiction” and a variety of other violent R-rated movies were on of Channel One’s list of the top 100 movies. Doesn’t sound like much of a kid’s web site, does it? They never apologized for what they did on their web site, and they probably won’t apologize for promoting “Bats” to children. No parent should be surprised by the actions of Channel One. The best parents and teachers can do is to remove Channel One from their children’s lives.”
