Screen shots from Channel One News April 2005
The new CEO of Channel One News is Judy Harris.
Obligation has tried to contact Ms. Harris since she accepted the Channel One job. She does not return emails or phone calls. We are beginning to see why she is reluctant to talk. She is taking Channel One News to a different place. It appears to be an ugly place for kids.
Above are still pictures from an ad for Ban deodorant. The image of a female apparently exposing herself is there for a purpose: to get the attention of children. Without their attention, the advertiser can not sell their product.
Channel One executives reviewed this ad and they approved it for their entire captive audience ranging from high school seniors to sixth grade students. Ms. Harris had to have given her approval to this ad because everyone in the company knew this ad had the potential of being a major disaster for the company. Harris had to sign-off on this ad.
Obligation believes there will be a host of schools that drop their contracts with Channel One due to this ad alone. Other schools are scheduled to drop Channel One over the summer due to the drug movies and violent movies and raunchy movies that have been relentlessly advertised to children over the years. Other schools will kick Channel One to the curb because of the junk food ads and the pitching of Gatorade.
Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, “Judy Harris, have a heart. Think about the schoolchildren that are forced to watch your TV show. Be sensitive to their age and innocence. Don’t think of them as ‘streetwise.’ You have been hired to drive up revenue, but at what cost? You don’t have to dangle sexual images in front of middle schoolchildren to make a buck. I hope you understand that you are diminishing the chances of Channel One’s survival when you air images like these. You are putting your company and the remaining schools that show your program into potentially serious legal problems. Classrooms that show your sexual imagery may be creating a hostile environment for girls. Give these children a break – take your responsibility as Channel One CEO seriously and that doesn’t just mean the bottom line.”
Of course, Channel One didn’t show a nude woman. They only created that image in the minds of the students. The whole point was to get kids to say, “Whoa, look at that on the TV!” or “Look at that lady exposing herself!”
“Ban inhibition” is the message on the “flasher’s” shirt. What a message to send to students – during class time.
To make things even worse, Channel One allows this advertiser to offer children money if they enter a contest that further promotes Ban. This is as bad as a Channel One commercial gets (except for those ads that promote pro-drug movies like Starsky and Hutch and Dude, Where’s My Car).
