The newsletter of the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education

Our readers should be aware of anew trend in commercialism thatmay soon be reaching your school:

advertising using new technologies. Themost disturbing new scheme (and the firstto go mass market) is ZapMe, the comput-er version of Channel One.

ZapMe is an internet web browser thatgives kids access to over 8,000 educationalwebsites. The company offers 15 “free”computers to a school as long as the schoolhas children logged on toeach computer for a mini-mum of 4 hours a day. Theentire time the students useZapMe, advertising aimed atthe teen market plays in thelower left hand corner of thescreen. Sound familiar yet?

It gets worse. If the stu-dents click on any particularadvertisement, they aretransported directly to theadvertising company’s website. ZapMe intends to haveattractive advertising (imag-ine a Nike ad that shows a video of MarkMcGwire hitting a home run) designed tolure a kid into commercial webpageswhere even more interactive activitiesawait them (games, contests, videos, etc.)

In addition to the advertising, there isalso an invasion of privacy issue. ZapMehas a “points program” where each studentearns points for the amount of time theyspend using the computer. ZapMe keepstrack and sends kids prizes directly to their

homes after they earn a certain amount ofpoints. In order to do this, ZapMe rou-tinely collects the home information ofevery new student who logs on.

ZapMe offers the ultimate set up forcompanies looking to advertise to childrenduring classtime. Like Channel One, theycan deliver a captive audience of studentsthat will be contractually required to usethe product a certain number of hours perweek. Also, because the entire network is

connected via satellite, theycan actually monitor whichkids in which zip codes arelooking at particular ads,and report this back to thecompanies.

Perhaps in order to headoff criticism, the Center wasoffered a tour of a school inLivermore, CA that usesZap Me. Last DecemberSenior program DirectorAndrew Hagelshaw andAssociate Director MeredeGraham toured a computer

lab where there was a class in session; mak-ing himself available for our questions wasFrank Vigil, President and CEO ofZapMe.

The school situation they were shownwas the most optimal situation for theZapMe product. There were two teacherspresent, one of whom led the students in adirected research exercise that lasted theentire class. Since the teachers were look-ing over the students shoulders the entire

time, very few kids clicked on the advertis-ing. This illustrates one of the contradic-tions of ZapMe; a school that doesn’t havethe resources to buy it’s own computersalso won’t have the resources to constantlysupervise the children to make sure theyaren’t spending their entire time looking atthe ads.

Another fact that ZapMe fails to telleducators: the disk drive of all the com-puters is physically sealed shut and can’tbe used for anything else besides ZapMe.The computers are always on line andconnected to the ZapMe system throughthe satellite, which is installed on the roofof the school.

ZapMe may already be assured of ini-tial success. They claim to have schoolsclamoring for their service. According totheir CEO, they have accumulated over8,000 requests already, and they plan tobe exposed to over 10 million kids bythe year 2002. Schools who don’t under-stand all of the drawbacks and limita-tions may find the line of “free comput-ers” hard to resist, just as many schoolssigned up for Channel One in the early90s before they fully understood the sit-uation. At the Center, we will be work-ing hard to make the public more awareof ZapMe. We plan to make it every bitas controversial as Channel One in thecoming months!

If you find out that ZapMe may becoming to your school, and you want todo something about it, call us at 1-800-867-5841! ✘

The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education is a national coalition of students, parents, teachers and community members working for commercial-free public education.

Screen shotsof ZapMe’scommercialinterface.

You can’t use thecomputers foranything elsebesides ZapMe.The computers arealways on line andconnected to theZapMe system.

not for sale!SUMMER 1999

Here comes

ZapMe,the computer version of Channel One

2 • not for sale! • summer 1999

News coverage is an impor-tant vehicle for reachinga large and diverse audi-

ence and our staff works hard toensure the issue of advertising inpublic schools and our victoriesreceive continual coverage. Youmay have recently read about theCenter and the various forms ofclassroom commercialism inyour local or national paper.Perhaps your local news satiationor favorite radio show has report-ed on the issue.

In case you missed it,the Sunday (3/21/99)New York Times ran afront page article aboutadvertising in math text-

books. The article featuredthe Center and a Californiaparent who brought the text-book to our attention. We arevery proud to have been fea-tured on the front page.

Additional press coverageover the past six monthsinclude:➤ Time Magazine➤ Chicago Tribune➤ Washington Post➤ US News & World Report➤ San Jose Mercury News➤ Houston Chronicle➤ Sacramento Bee➤ Baltimore Sun

➤ Los Angeles Times➤ Associated Press➤ Nicolodeon News➤ San Francisco Chronicle ➤ National Public Radio➤ Education Leadership➤ Education Week➤ California Schools➤ The American School

Board Journal➤ BBC

And a front page article inour Sr. Program Director’shome town newspaper,Michigan’s KalamazooGazette! ✘

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nick Leon Board Chair Laurie Leiber Vice PresidentKristen Keniray TreasurerSarah Church SecretaryMark Louie Asst. Treasurer Brita Butler-WallJohn CarneLarry GiacomonioCarrie McLarenNamane Mohlabane Diane Morrison

STAFFWalt Hanna

Executive DirectorMerede Graham

Associate DirectorAndrew Hagelshaw

Senior Program DirectorDylan Bernstein

Program DirectorAndrea Veltman

Program Associate

BECOME A MEMBER!Membership Levels:

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✃

Centerin the News

Extra! Extra!Advertising in SchoolsMakes Headlines!

In March the Center participated in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development con-ference held in San Francisco. Over 6,000 teachers, principals and school administrators attended theconference, many of which visited our booth to learn how they could keep their schools commercial-

free. The conference was very successful and a wonderful opportunity to meet with and educate schoolofficials from across the country.

The following month in April, our staff and Board of Directors again set-up our booth for theNational School Board Association Conference. We talked to hundreds of school board membersfrom across the country who wanted more information about how they could protect their schoolsfrom the negative effects of classroom commercialism. Larry Giacomonio, a high school teacher anda member of the Center’s Board of Directors shared the stage with William Rukeyser, founder ofLearning in the Real World, in debating Paul Folkener from Channel One. The session was attend-ed by over three hundred school board members, several of whom stood up to expresses their opposi-tion to Channel One. We are grateful for all the positive support we received from everyone at thetwo conferences.

Be sure to look for us next year. ✘

NamaneMohlabane,member of theCenter’s Board ofDirectors, works atour exhibit booth.

summer 1999 • not for sale! • 3

Vote for theCenter on the1999 WorkingAssets Ballot!

The Center has been cho-sen to be a Working AssetsCompany’s 1999 donationrecipient. Each yearWorking Assets’ customersnominate organizationsfor funding and then havethe opportunity to votehow the funding is distrib-uted. Last year over $3million was distributed to50 organizations.

Working Assets com-bines social values andsmart business practices.Not only do they donate apercentage of their annualprofits but each monthcustomers can make freephone calls regardingimportant social issues.For example, in Februarycustomers were asked tocall Speaker of theCalifornia AssemblyAntonio Villaraigosa insupport of two state billsto keep advertising out oftextbooks and ourschools. Over 5,000 phonecalls were generated!

If you are a WorkingAssets customer we hopeyou will support theCenter by voting for us inthe fall. Also tell yourfriends and family to alsoconsider the Center. Ifyou want to support theCenter by participating inthe ballot process youcan become a WorkingAssets customer by call-ing 1-800-788-8588. Ifyou join Working Assetsbe sure to mention theCenter and we willreceive $20.00 off ournext long distance bill.We want to thank all ofour members who nomi-nated the Center for theWorking Assets ballot—it is about to pay off!! ✘

WyomingCommunity activists in Buffalo, Wyoming are

fighting to get Channel One out of their schools.Community member David Romtvedt is workingwith local PTA members and others to bring pressureto their school board. They have had numerous arti-cles written about their efforts in the BuffaloBulletin, the local paper. Arecent community meeting inthe Buffalo Public librarywent well, and actionsagainst Channel One willcontinue.

CaliforniaThe Center is happy to

report that the one of the twostate bills put forward in theCalifornia legislature to curbcommercialism has taken agiant step towards becoming a law! As we reported in ourlast newsletter, CaliforniaAssemblymember KerryMazzoni, head of theAssembly EducationCommittee, authored the billsthis past January. AB 116,designed to stop commercialimages in school textbooks,passed the Assembly on April7th. Center staff and volun-teers went to Sacramento andtestified convincingly beforethe Assembly EducationCommittee. McGraw-Hill, the publisher of the nowinfamous math book that started the controversy,stopped their lobbying efforts against the bill after theCenter succeeded in generating a flood of publicity –including a front page article in the New York Times!

OregonA great success story comes out of Portland,

Oregon regarding Coke/Pepsi. Recently, a request forCoke/Pepsi proposals (an RFP) was issued by Portlandpublic schools. In response, a student named TroyPickard helped form a student club in his high schoolnamed Students for Commercial-free Classrooms(SCC). They began a petition effort in the local com-munity to call attention to the possible cola contract.In response to the attention, the school rescinded theRFP! Though their work is far from finished (manyschools in the Portland area are continuing to consid-er and sign cola contracts), this serves as anotherexample of the power of community action.

MichiganTeachers in Alpena, Michigan are fed up with

Channel One and want it out. The Center is work-ing with a school counselor who is leading the callagainst advertising in his school. This is how littlethe Alpena teachers think of Channel One as ateaching tool: when a school principal told the

teachers at a recent meetingthat getting rid ofChannel One might meanlosing their television sets,the teachers broke out inapplause!

CanadaUnfortunately, a

Channel One clone is onthe move in Canada.YNN, Youth NewsNetwork, is approachingschools north of the borderto sign them up to thesame old tired scheme of“free” televisions inexchange for advertising toa captive audience of stu-

dents. Several school districtsin Canada are in contact

with the Center and request-ing information about

Channel One in order to fightoff the intrusion of YNN into

their communities. Recently the Center provided

materials for a community meeting ofactivists who are fighting to get YNN out ofMeadowvail Secondary School in Ontario.Meadowvail is the YNN pilot school for Canada.Our materials were a hit, and are being used byactivists along with information from the CanadianCenter for Policy Alternatives. The Center is also intouch with students activists from the pilot school,who are bravely risking suspensions to publiclyprotest their opposition to YNN.

AlabamaThe state based children’s rights organization,

Obligation, Inc., contacted the Center seeking helpto remove Channel One from schools throughoutthe state. The issue was brought to the attention ofObligation’s president, Jim Metrock, by a long timeCenter member and community activist. As aresult of Obligation and the Center’s effortsChannel One was removed from all schools inShelby County. ✘

Actions Against Classroom Advertising

Local Highlights

This example is taken from McGraw- Hill’s 1999 edition of Mathematics:

Applications and Connections.

4 • not for sale! • summer 1999

Recently, Channel One, a twelve minutein school show containing two minuetsof television commercials, registered in

Washington D.C. to lobby at the federal levelin order to defend themselves at possible U.S.Senate hearings. In a March 11, 1999Washington Post column, Channel One claimsthat their aim is to promote education, notbusiness and that lobbying is an entirely newendeavor for Channel One. One spokesmansaid, “We’re not sophisticated Washingtonlobbyists. We’re used to dealing with teach-ers.” The Center for Commercial-Free PublicEducation, however, conducted some inves-tigative reporting and discovered quite theopposite. From the East Coast to the West,from 1990 to the present, Channel One hasactively lobbied across the country.

For example, in the early 1990’s,Channel One experienced difficulty break-ing into the California public schools mar-ket. The state’s Superintendent ofEducation, Bill Honig, disliked ChannelOne so much that he threatened to reducestate funding and possibly sue schools thatsigned up for the program. From 1991-1994, Channel One was also threatened bylegislation introduced by Senator Art Torres’(D-Los Angeles) that would ban schoolsfrom contracting with companies, such asChannel One, that included advertising viaelectronic media during the school day. Inresponse, Channel One’s then-parent com-pany, Whittle Communications, hired sever-

al of the most well known lobbyists at thestate and federal levels to defend their posi-tion. These firms, including Nielsen,Merksamer, Hodgson, Parrinello & Mueller,Rose-Kindel, and Carpenter & Associates,were paid over $1.4 million to defendChannel One’s presence in California’s pub-lic schools. According to a September 1991L.A. Times article, Whittle Communica-tions paid $206,861 to well-connectedindividuals as well as political consultingand public relations firms insure their suc-cess in breaking into California schools.

Channel One tried to defeat legislationbanning it from New York’s public schoolsthree times during the mid-90’s. Theirresulting lobbying expenditures in NewYork between the years 1992 and 1997added up to over $500,000.

Today Channel One is owned byPrimedia, based in New York, NY.According to the Federal Clerk of the House,employers of both Channel One andPrimedia registered in June, 1998 to lobby inWashington D.C. As of August, 1998Primedia had paid $20,000 to firm, Thelen,Reid and Priest to represent them and as ofFebruary of 1999, Channel One had retainedthe lobbying firm of, Preston, Gates and Ellisfor a fee of $120,000. They have alsoretained Ralph Reed, formerly head of theChristian Coalition, to lobby on their behalf.

It is clear that Channel One is a well-seasoned lobbyist. As to Channel One’sdeclaration that they are about education,not business, just look at these quotes takenfrom the promotional materials they use tosolicit advertisers for the show.

➤ “Get the UNDIVIDED ATTENTIONof millions of teenagers for 12 minutes a day,”

➤ “Teens: a $63 Billion Market… WithChannel One, your reach is more effective…”

Channel One for education? We think not.Channel One is educated? Yes—in the

art of lobbying, marketing, and making ahefty buck off exploiting our children andpublic schools. ✘

Join our School Watch Team!

In our last newsletter we announced opportunities to join the SchoolWatch Team and Regional Volunteer Coordinator Programs. The response

from around the country has been wonderful and we want to thank every-one who has joined our effort. There is still time to become either a SchoolWatch Team member or a Regional Volunteer Coordinator. Teachers, students, parents – anyonewho wants to expose commercialism – is invited to participate. To learn more or to reportinstances of commercialism found in your school call us at 1-800-867-5841. You will receive anintroductory packet filled with information and tools to help you educate others about the issueand identify all the different types of classroom commercialism. Share your finds with us, there-by drawing greater attention to the overall issue. We look forward to hearing from you soon! ✘

NON PROFIT ORG.U.S.POSTAGE

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1714 Franklin Street,#100-306Oakland,CA 94612(510) 268-1100(800) 867-5841fax:(510) 268-1277email:unplug@igc.org

www.commercialfree.org

Setting the Record Straight:

Channel One… One Savvy Lobbyist