Commercials Criticized : School Defends TV Experiment

Students at Gahr High School wonder what all the fuss is about.

Every school-day morning since March 6, students at the Cerritos high school have been watching a new teen-oriented TV news broadcast called Channel One, produced by Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tenn. Each 12-minute program, being aired on an experimental basis in classrooms at six high schools throughout the United States, includes two minutes of commercials for jeans, chewing gum and other products that young people buy.

In exchange for showing the current-events program, Gahr and each of the other schools received $50,000 worth of electronic equipment, including 25-inch color televisions for every classroom, two videocassette recorders and a satellite dish.

Program Condemned

Because of the commercials on Channel One, however, the program has been condemned by the National Education Assn., the American Federation of Teachers, and both the California and the National Parent-Teachers Assns., among others.

Earlier this month, National PTA President Manya Ungar of Chicago said the group’s leaders “applaud efforts to bring new technology into our schools. However, we are opposed to making the availability of that technology and programming contingent upon subjecting a captive student audience to the promotion of commercial products or services.”

But at Gahr, the only school in the West taking part in the pilot program, students and staff seem surprised at what many see as much ado about Whittle.

Gahr Principal Nadine Barreto, who accepted the firm’s invitation to take part in the pilot program, acknowledged that she had some initial concerns.

Whittle promised Barreto and other participating principals that all commercials would be appropriate for classroom viewing. No ads would be accepted for alcoholic beverages, tobacco, contraceptives or feminine hygiene products.

Principals have the option of screening each program in advance and pulling the plug if they find it objectionable. Gahr students have seen all the programming to date.

Misgivings Allayed

Barreto said her misgivings were also allayed by the quality of the programming and the fact that Gahr teachers are using the show to analyze the techniques advertisers use to sway audiences.

Moreover, she noted, $50,000 worth of equipment is not easy to come by in an era of Spartan school budgets.

“If we lived in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have commercials,” she said. “And education would be the country’s highest priority.”

Barreto said she believes that high school students are smarter, more sophisticated consumers than critics of the program give them credit for.

Several Gahr students said they are more likely to be influenced by peer pressure than by advertising in deciding what to buy.

“These kids are walking commercials,” teacher Roger Hughes said, alluding to the brand names prominently displayed on T-shirts, jeans and running shoes.

On a recent Wednesday morning, the Channel One broadcast featured stories on the national ban on fruit from Chile and the growing concern about the safety of apples.

A segment on air pollution touched on everything from acid rain to a Channel One reporter’s observation that “every time a cow belches, it sends out methane gas.”

Hughes’ students laughed at the notion of bovine pollution, but not as hard as they laughed at a deodorant commercial that showed a classroom of students with dry underarms waving their hands in the air as a voice urged them to “Raise your hand if you’re Sure!”