to sell a new violent video game.
Hulk Hogan yells a greeting to students as they watch Channel One News on their Promethean whiteboards.
From Jim Metrock:
Oh the humanity. Oh the stupidity.
Schoolchildren who are unfortunately in schools that have Channel One News began their school day yesterday, November 7, watching Hulk Hogan scream at them.
“Here you go maniacs. Hulk Hogan here. The greatest of all time! I want to give a shout out to everyone watching Channel One News. And by the way, it starts right now!!”
As Hogan ends his rant and as the Channel One logo comes on the screen, he throws a punch at the camera. Parents have no idea this is how their child is starting their school day and school week.
Hulk Hogan throws punch at students forced to watch Channel One News.
What an idiotic way use of school time. School administrators and teachers who think this is merely a fun waste of time should find other work. They don’t need to be in education.
Why is Hulk Hogan opening the Channel One show? Duh. He’s there to promote his new violent video game.
Channel One News is going all out on its classroom TV show and on its Channelone.com website to make sure kids buy Hulk Hogan's Main Event.
Channel One News is advertising a video game that is inappropriate for its large preteen audience.
Notice the thinner banner ad. Many more ads for this violent video game can be seen on Channelone.com.
After Hogan delivers his “punch” line, the Promethean whiteboards and Channel One’s TV sets move to a shot of Jessica Kumari delivering a very important line: “What better way to start off your week than a shout out from The Hulkster.” Really, Jessica?
"What better way to start off your week," says shill Jessica Kumari.
It is important to understand the role of the Channel One News anchor in helping to plug products. When a actor or someone else opens the show to remind students that a new movie or CD or video game is coming out, Channel One wants to help their advertiser by making a connection between the anchor and the guest star on the show. When Jessica Kumari, who is a known personality for students, indicates she likes Hulk Hogan and that she is glad he is on the program, she gives this video video game her implicit endorsement. Is she offended by this intrusion of advertising into the supposedly non-commercial part of the daily program? Absolutely not. She likes it. Students who watch Channel One News are getting a terrible idea of what journalism is about.
Ms. Kumari and other Channel One News reporters routinely use their position of trust with students to help their advertisers sell more products or more movie tickets. It’s disgraceful, but no more so than a school wasting precious school time forcing students to watch Hulk Hogan.
This nonsense is now coming into classrooms via an unholy alliance with Promethean a whiteboard manufacturer. Promethean brags that they are now helping to “power” Channel One’s presence in classrooms. My efforts to engage Promethean executives in a conversation about the many problems with Channel One’s marketing program have been unsuccessful. This appears to be an arrogant corporation from Great Britain that believes it can do whatever it wants in American classrooms. If that’s true Promethean makes a perfect partner for Channel One.
Of great concern to parents is the fact that Promethean wants to bring Channel One News to ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KIDS. Yipes. Along with pushing their new Channel One News InterActiv content on secondary schools, this whiteboard company is trying to sell elementary schools on something called Channel One News InterActiv, Jr. That’s a cute little name for an ugly, ugly concept.
Promethean believes American parents and educators will embrace the concept of the extremely controversial Channel One News program coming into third through fifth grades. Grades they have never been in before.
They say there will be no advertising, but this article today shows Promethean is misleading schools by making that claim. Channel One does NOT consider the shout out from Hulk Hogan as a commercial. They don’t consider it as any form of advertising. Although Hulk Hogan’s video game is being advertised on the show and on their website, he is on the program simply to help make the news more “hip” and “cool.” Really.
Will the Junior version of Channel One News contain these “non-commercial” commercials? Of course it will. There is no way for Channel One to strip out all the advertising that is mixed with feature stories and news stories. The program is super-saturated with advertising, both the type that look like ads and the type that don’t. Promethean says Channel One News will have a lot of quizzes for elementary school students – which of course they can answer with their nifty, wireless, high-priced Promethean Learner Response devices. But will the quizzes be like this Let’s Learn About Famous Disasters or Let’s Learn About the Salem Witch Trials or Let’s Learn About Greek Mythology or Let’s Learn About the Milky Way or Let’s Learn About Cats or Let’s Learn About Pandas or how about these.
During the time period that Warner Brothers was paying Channel One News to run numerous commercials for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, Channel One presented a news story about college students playing in the Quidditch World Cup. (Quidditch is the rugby/dodge ball/tag flying game in Harry Potter books and movies.) Advertising permeates all Channel One News programming.
Channel One will also be constantly plugging its own Channelone.com site which is filled with advertising. After news or feature stories, Channel One routinely tells students to “Visit Channelone.com for more information.” Will this practice stop with the Junior version, I don’t think so. Channel One is a youth marketing company. Advertising is in their DNA.
When a Promethean sales rep comes to your elementary school tell him or her to take their sales literature and get back in their car. Tell the rep you don’t like the company they’re keeping.
