Where do u draw the line?

December 8, 2011
The first thing students see as Channel One News begins Dec. 5, 2011 is a young person drawing on a shiny uDraw tablet.

 

Channel One is still not allowing parents to see the commercials it shows to students on the in-classroom TV show Channel One News. On the daily replay of the program Channel One continues to black out the two commercial breaks that contain most of the commercial messages aimed at students. One can only imagine the junk they are urging young people to buy.

Occasionally we get a peek at some of the aggressive advertising Channel One is famous for.

At the beginning of the December 5, 2011 show, students see the traditional 10-to-1 countdown marking the beginning of Channel One News transformed into a commercial for the video game/hardware called U-Draw Studio. This is classic Channel One News advertising. It doesn’t look like an ad and that is on purpose. This is stealth advertising aimed at children. It’s as pathetic as you can get when it comes to kiddie marketing, but it is powerful stuff.

When anyone sees an ad and knows it’s an ad, one’s defenses are up a little. When you aren’t told what you are watching is an ad, the message can be so much more effective.

Channel One News allows the uDraw video game and tablet to be shown without any mention of the price.  In fact Channel One News has routinely said this type of promotion is NOT an advertisement. They do this so they don’t have to count this time against their contractual ad limit/per show of two minutes. 

Channel One’s intrusion into elementary schools is so worrisome because although Channel One and their white board partner Promethean are telling parents and educators there will be no advertising on the elementary school version of Channel One News, this type of “non-commercial” commercial may be routine.

Obligation has directly asked Promethean if such ads will be on the elementary school program. They have refused to comment.  

 

 

Frame shots from Channel One News. This young person is all smiles using uDraw.Young students see all the things one can do with uDraw, if only one's parent has the $50-$90 to buy the game and tablet for Christmas. Channel One's advertiser is going for the nag factor. Note: You may also see a Disneyland Adventure Kinect game advertised before you see the uDraw video game ad. Both are being advertised on Channel One News.

 

 

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