On October 28, Channel One executives must have chuckled to themselves as they broadcast an Old Spice commercial that contained a not-too-subtle sexual reference.
Children see a young man wheeling down a hallway delivering mail to various offices. He comes to a door marked “Madison Saunders, Executive V.P.”. He knows this executive is a beautiful woman. He then opens up his shirt and sprays on Old Spice Body Spray. The voice-over says, “Spray it on in the morning and spice things up.” He opens the door. He is holding a package he is to deliver to her office. He, a “lowly” mail clerk, raises an eyebrow as if to tell this female executive that he is ready to “spice things up.” She is standing by her desk. Instead of being insulted by this come-on, she looks at him and softly and seductively says, “Nice package.”
Good grief. Channel One thought this was appropriate for schoolchildren?! Most teachers are too busy to watch Channel One News so this would not have heard this “Nice package” comment or they might not know that “package” is slang for the male genitals. To make sure the kids understand the sex play involved with this ad, the last image on the commercial is shot between the woman’s legs. The children see the mail clerk framed by the woman’s stiletto heels. The clerk has one foot crossed over his other foot and his body language says, “I’m ready for some action, babe.” And why not? He has on Old Spice Body Spray and you always get the girl when you have that stuff on.
Somebody is going to sue a school system because of these sexual images that Jim Ritts and Company continue to put into classrooms. It takes no imagination whatsoever to see that Channel One helps to heighten sexual tension in middles school and high school classrooms.
From the Online Slang dictionary (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/): package n 1. male genitalia. (Numerous other online references to “package” meaning “penis” or “male genitalia”.)
Using sex to sell to students in the classroom is nothing new to Channel One. However, under the current president, Jim Ritts, Channel One is pushing the envelope more than ever. This is not surprising for anyone who knows the history of Jim Ritts. Ritts came to Channel One from the notorious Digital Entertainment Network. (Think “notorious” is too strong? Check out DEN by using a search engine.)
Ritts and DEN were going to create a “TV network” on the Internet that would be aimed at 14-24 year-olds (this shows how out-of-touch Ritts is with understanding children – what does a 14-year-old have in common with a 24-year-old?) that would have content that would never pass the censors on regular TV. Thankfully DEN went out of business before their sludge could be dumped on kids.
Channel One continues to tell the public that they have an advisory committee that screens their commercials. Efforts to get the names of these people are never successful. That could be because there is no committee. Channel One News has no accountability. They can do what they like. If they want to make sex jokes in a middle school or high school, they can.
Jim Metrock said, “This Old Spice ad is outrageous. Channel One News is getting very scummy under Jim Ritts. The Channel One executives appear to view children as ‘street-wise’ and very sexually aware. Ritts and his fellow fat-cat executives must think sex jokes aimed at kids are perfectly acceptable, especially if you are making a lot of money from it. If you are a parent or teacher and still have Channel One News in your school, why aren’t you doing something about it?”
See for yourself. Here is the last portion of Channel One News’s “Nice Package” Ad.
