Shamelessly advertisers and marketers sat in the Grand Hyatt Hotel on September 14 and handed out "Golden Marble" awards to honor the best advertising to children. These advertisers also had two days of seminars on how to more effectively manipulate children and to get a large portion of their allowance money. It was no...
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Does your school still have Channel One News?
Learn how to unplug
Houghton Mifflin/Channel One News
Channel One News is a youth marketing company whose main purpose is to get advertising to a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren. The company loans a school TV equipment in exchange for the school’s contractual pledge to show students a daily, 12-minute, hyper-commercial, TV program called Channel One News. Students lose one hour a week of schools time, which equates to one lost week of instructional time (32 hours) per year. No educational organization endorses the use of Channel One News.
Channel One has fallen on very hard times. Once they claimed over 8 million students were under contract. Since 1997 they have continued to lose schools and now they claim “nearly five million” students and the true figure is probably lower.
In May 2014, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired Channel One from ZelnickMedia the makers of the ultra-violent Grand Thief Auto video game series. Houghton Mifflin did not disclose the purchase price.
At the end of 2014 most of Channel One’s full-paying advertisers have abandoned the program.
Obligation Participates in Demonstration Against “Golden Marble” Awards in NYC
GAO Study on Commercialism in Schools Prominently Mentions Channel One
On September 14, the General Accounting Office issued a report documenting the rapid rise of commercialism in public schools. Channel One’s type of commercialism is only one type, albeit, in our minds it is one of the most outrageous. The report which made news across the country is: GAO/HEHS-00-156 Public Education: Commercial Activities in...
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FTC Mentions Channel One in Historic Report on Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children
“Target marketing to children of entertainment products with violent content is pervasive and aggressive,” FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky (September 11, 2000) You bet, Bob. Violent movies, violent television shows, violent music, violent video games. This is the world our children live in. The marketing of violent entertainment is big business, and that is certainly the case with Channel One....
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Marketing Violent Entertainment to America’s Schoolchildren
September 8, 2000 – For More Than Four Years Channel One Has Marketed Violent Entertainment to America’s Schoolchildren Important Press Release – Fri., September 8, 2000
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Chicago Tribune – Bad Nutrition and Channel One
Great article by Bob Condor in the September 3, 2000 Chicago Tribune about how schools send contradictory nutritional messages to schoolchildren. Schools take National School Lunch Program money and then show Channel One with its incessant junk food and soft drink commercials. Doesn’t make sense does it? That is why our coalition sent letters...
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ChannelOneParents.com Is Dead
It was announced last year with great flourish. Channel One was going to have a web site just for parents of children required to watch Channel One during their school day. The concept was ludicrous from the beginning. Channel One has been a big secret for parents and that is why Channel One got...
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Channel One Forgot the News!
All summer long and as recently as this past Labor Day weekend, Channel One had opportunities to bring their students the news and didn’t. The self-proclaimed "only source of news for millions of kids" has failed to use their web site (www.channelone.com) to keep children up-to-date on breaking news. Jim Metrock said, "Channel One...
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“This is a big company preying on my children.”
BusinessWeek (dated September 11) hit the newsstands today and the cover story is “Too Much Corporate Power?” Channel One is prominently mentioned and Diane Gramley of Franklin, PA is shown with two of her children standing in front of Rocky Grove High School. This courageous woman has not only taken on her school board but the huge corporate power...
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Channel One’s Candy Hall of Fame
August 28, 2000 – This is some of the candy that Primedia’s Channel One advertises to schoolchildren. Remember how hungry you would get in school. Channel One knows they have a hungry captive audience. One commercial Channel One ran for years was a "Hungry? Why Wait?" commercial for Snickers. Snickers made Channel One a...
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Channel One’s Hall of Shame
Mt. Dew is a long-time advertiser on Channel One. They consistently run loud and hilarious commercials that would draw the attention of even the most serious student in the class. Mt. Dew must be very pleased with the effectiveness of Channel One. The goal of Channel One is to get kids to buy and...
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