From Jim Metrock:
When a movie studio comes to Channel One wanting C1’s help getting kids to buy tickets to their movie, Channel One News goes into overdrive. Channel One will do whatever it takes to make that movie studio happy. (What about what’s best for students? You gotta be kiddin’. This is Channel One News – advertisers are king!)
Channel One News will allow a star from the movie to greet students. They will allow a star to give a pop quiz to kids that somehow relates to the advertised movie. (Jack Black gave students a pop quiz on pandas the week before the premiere of his movie Kung Fu Panda. Wow. How clever.)
So it’s no surprise to see Channel One converting their opening countdown into a plug for a new movie. This has been done numerous times before by Channel One.
What is particularly disturbing about this movie promotion is the nature of the movie. When CEO Ms. C. J. Kettler was approached with the idea of advertising Insidious 2 to schoolchildren, she should have said, “Absolutely NO,” but she didn’t. Movie studio money is evidently hard for C.J. Kettler to turn down, even a violent horror movie.
I saw this movie after I saw it advertised on Channel One News to middle school students. It is revolting to think taxpayers subsidized the promotion of this cultural rot to students.
I have been recently talking with a number of school districts that are on the verge of ending their relationship with the Channel One youth marketing firm. I think ads for violent entertainment like Insidious 2, aimed specifically at students, some just a few weeks out of elementary school, will be reason enough for schools to say goodbye to Ms. Kettler and her insidious Channel One marketing firm.
