Spring house cleaning continues at marketing company Channel One.
A look back at the man who loved to connect advertisers with children.
In the early 2000’s when he was Channel One’s VP of Sales Kent Haehl knew that there was an obesity crisis developing among young people, but he signed up junk food advertisers with no apparent remorse.
Channel One News told students that the controversial rapper Lil Wayne was a great philanthropist. No joke. What about his explicit lyrics? Why did Haehl think it was important for 6th grade students to spend their limited educational time learning about Lil Wayne? There were no controls on what Kent Haehl Channel One News CEO could do with his in-classroom TV show. In the years I followed Channel One and Haehl, I think the most generous thing I can say about him was he was a wee bit insensitive when it came to his young, captive audience.
2007 – Kent Haehl comes back to Channel One News after Alloy Media and Marketing saves the company from extinction.
In a puzzling move, Haehl sought out a “partnership” with the makers of Promethean white boards. It was a marriage of a dead brand (Channel One) with a struggling one (Promethean). Then Haehl decided elementary schoolchildren should have a chance to see Channel One News. This version had no ads so schools are required to pay a fee for Channel One’s content. Guess how successful this Haehl-plan was? Q: What elementary school is going to PAY MONEY to bring controversy into its classrooms? A: Pretty close to NONE.
Haehl loved advertising movies to teens and preteens. If the movies contained violent, sexual, or drug content, that was a shame, of course, but it didn’t seem to stop him from advertising them to a captive audience of schoolchildren. Drillbit Taylor was one of his less offensive movies.
