Over the years, Channel One News has tried to get students to buy some really goofy products.
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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.
As advertised on Channel One News: Polaroid i-zone Webster Mini Scanner (February 5, 2001)
As advertised on Channel One News: What a Girl Wants – movie and contest (March
After the movie trailer which takes up precious school time, Channel One News tacks on a contest to build interest in the movie.
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As advertised on Channel One News: Pepsi with Shakira (March 24, 2003)
Channel One News knows that sex sells. In this Channel One-approved commercial Shakira dances for the delight of middle school boys forced to watch Channel One News. Junk food and junk drink commercials saturated this classroom TV show for over 13 years.
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As advertised on Channel One News: Teen.com (October 21, 2009)
Forget the name, Teen.com is loaded with age-inappropriate content. Teen.com is Channel One’s sister company so both companies cross-promote the other. One more reason to remove Channel One News from secondary schools, especially middle schools.
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Channel One updates their hilarious list of things they will not advertise.
Channel One’s updated list of things they will not advertise. This is NOT a list of things they have never advertised. From Jim Metrock: I’ll write at a later time about this updated list, however the list can be broken into two groups: Those things that are patently absurd (Firearms, beer,...
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As advertised on Channel One News: Twix and Pepsi (May 29, 1997)
This is one commercial break from the May 29, 1997 Channel One News program for middle school students. For more than a decade Channel One News advertised junk food to a captive audience of schoolchildren.These back-to-back ads for Twix candy bars and Pepsi give an indication of Channel One’s reckless disregard for the...
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