The Channel One Network has two vehicles to get commercial messages to children. The most important way is their in-school TV show called Channel One News. The second level of advertising comes on Channel One’s official web site, channelone.com. This web site is ONLY advertised on the TV show so it is an extension of the TV show. Each day on the show, the Channel One anchors plead with students to visit the web site. If you want to answer the question of the day you have to go to the web site. Guest hosts who are often movie stars or recording artists will have extensive interviews found, you guessed it, only at channelone.com. Channel One even runs 30-second ads for channelone.com when they don’t have any paying clients to fill spots. If a child didn’t have the TV show in their school life, he or she probably wouldn’t visit this web site.
Channel One is ramping up their ads on the web site. One new one advertiser is PhoneHog.com. This should be a concern for all parents.
PhoneHog works this way: It is free to sign up but a child has to give a considerable amount of personal identifiable information to join.
You earn free long distance minutes by buying products or services from PhoneHog partners or by giving your personal information to other companies so they can contact you about their company.
Get 15 FREE minutes just for applying for the Gold MasterCard from First Premier Bank! Receive a credit limit of $250 up to $1,000, plus enjoy the benefits of ATM Cash Advances. And you’ll get 15 minutes for free just for applying. Apply Now!
Or you can earn minutes by becoming a member of Columbia House. The current deal offered to kids is if they purchase the ten-volume set of “Sex In The City” they will receive the first volume for free. It’s their way of saying thanks to PhoneHog customers.
This site appears to be intended for adults and not for pre-teens or teens, yet Channel One’s web site has been featuring this company’s ads for several weeks.
There are no controls on Channel One. What adult would make the decision to try to get children to sign up with PhoneHog? Is it in a child’s best interest to have a way to make long distance calls that parents will be totally unaware of? Doesn’t this just continue to promote the Channel One theme of “Buy!, Buy!, Buy!, Buy!, Buy!”?
Check out Channel One’s newest ad partner, PhoneHog.com.
