Student program takes stand on movie ads

On the heels of a Federal Trade Commission report and contentious appearances by Hollywood producers before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, an organization that provides a daily news program for school students announced it was ahead of the curve on curbing the airing of advertisements for R-rated and PG-13-rated movies to underage children.
   
And the network gave Southern Baptists at least partial credit for increasing its sensitivity to the issue of marketing movies and other teen-related  products to the nearly 8 million students in schools it serves.
   
Channel One, a private network that airs a 12-minute newscast to 12,000 middle, junior and high schools each day, has never aired advertisements for R-rated movies or M-rated games and over a year ago began to screen ads for PG-13 movies to determine their appropriateness for a high school student-only audience, reported a Channel One executive. In exchange for providing schools televisions and videocassette recorders and a dish to pull down the network’s signal, Channel One asks teachers to begin each class day viewing their youth-focused news program.
   
“It’s nice the FTC is focused on the R-rated movies, but what about PG-13 movies?” asked Jeff Ballabon, executive vice president for the Channel One Network, concerning the FTC report and congressional hearings in which the entertainment industry is being taken to task for marketing products that feature “violent entertainment” to children.
   
“We scrutinize the movie to determine why it has a PG-13 rating,” Ballabon told Baptist Press. “If our advisory panel of teachers, parents, religious leaders and children’s advocates decides an ad is appropriate, we will air it; but we will not air ads for these movies in schools or classrooms in which there are likely to be children under 13.”
   
A study conducted by the Parents Television Council of advertisements during television’s  “family hour” — between 8 and 9 p.m. Eastern time — revealed 83 percent of the ads for movies during that time were for R-rated films.
   
Channel One’s announcement answered some concerns raised in 1999 by Southern Baptists. A resolution adopted by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta criticized the 10-year-old school network for its “advertising assault” on students, suggesting parents seek ways “to protect their children” from Channel One’s commercial blitz. Ballabon said each day’s news show has a two-minute commercial break; he stressed  many of the advertisements aired are public service announcements.
   
Ballabon said that Southern Baptists’ interest in the network’s offerings figured in the network’s decision to raise the bar on the products it advertises in the classroom. (BP)