Is PIX11 News Programming Your Children to Consume? Understanding Native Advertising and Its Impact

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Have you ever wondered about the content your children are consuming on television, especially during their favorite cartoon time? Are news programs truly informative, or could they be subtly influencing young minds in ways you haven’t considered? In an era where advertising is increasingly integrated into news broadcasts, it’s crucial to question: Where Can I Get Kids Pix 11 content that is truly beneficial and not just cleverly disguised marketing?

This article delves into the concerning trend of “native advertising” on channels like WPIX-TV (PIX11 News), particularly their early morning segments. Under the leadership of President and General Manager Richard Graziano and News Director Amy Waldman, PIX11 has been demonstrably prioritizing revenue by partnering with advertisers to create sponsored content. This includes segments that promote alcohol brands like Cavoda Vodka, Diplomático Rum, Four Roses Bourbon, Bombay Sapphire Gin, and Casa Noble Tequila, all disguised as news.

These segments not only underestimate the intelligence of adult viewers but also pose a significant risk to children’s media literacy. Could watching these segments actually lower your kids’ ability to discern advertising from genuine news? And will consumers eventually realize they are being manipulated, leading to a backlash against these brands? Is “National Bourbon Month” even a real thing, or just a marketing ploy? Shouldn’t commercials between news segments be sufficient, without needing advertisements masquerading as news content itself?

This guide serves as an essential resource to understand native advertising, offering insights for concerned consumers. We will examine the practices of PIX11 Morning News, explore the dangers of this blurred line between news and advertising, and provide guidance on how to file complaints with the FTC or FCC regarding potentially deceptive advertising practices.

PIX11 News: It’s 7 a.m. Do you know where your bourbon is?

The Blurring Lines: Native Advertising and the Erosion of Trust

Native advertising is a contentious issue because it deliberately obscures the distinction between news, entertainment, and advertising. John Carroll, a former advertising and television news executive and current professor of mass communication at Boston University, explains it as “blurring the lines between news, entertainment, and advertising. The whole idea is to keep it up in the air: What exactly is this?” (as highlighted in a Boston Globe article). For a humorous yet insightful take on native advertising, consider watching comedian John Oliver’s commentary.

While adults might struggle to identify sponsored content seamlessly integrated into news broadcasts, presented as genuine news, and featuring familiar on-air personalities, children are especially vulnerable. They are naturally less critical viewers. Exposing children to fake news segments in the early morning – segments where trusted news presenters enthusiastically endorse cocktails made with hard liquor – is seen by critics as a deceptive tactic to promote underage drinking. This echoes the controversial Flintstones commercials that once promoted Winston cigarettes.

For a historical perspective on the Flintstones and marketing, explore “Yabba Dabba Cough!” in Advertising Age. Then, compare this Winston ad to these PIX11 News segments promoting various liquor brands:

The “Spooky Spirits” segment is particularly concerning as it uses gimmicks designed to appeal to children’s tastes: ice cream, Dutch chocolate, Karo corn syrup, blue food coloring, and even green ice cubes that light up, along with a Cavoda Vodka bottle that blinks. Despite promoting a “premium vodka for under $40” as a “great gift,” crucial disclosures about the sponsored nature of the segment were absent.

The Surrogate Parent: Television’s Influence on Children

Children from low-income families often rely on unsupervised television viewing for education and socialization. Television becomes a surrogate parent, making it alarming when PIX11 News portrays every holiday as an opportunity to consume hard liquor. It normalizes alcohol consumption, turning “finding the right drink” into an essential ritual for occasions like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Earth Day, and beyond.

Other events used as pretexts for sponsored alcohol content include the Super Bowl, the Oscars, Mother’s Day, and even the premiere of a new season of Game of Thrones.

The messages these native ads send to children are clear: drinking is hip, cool, fun, popular, newsworthy, patriotic, and essential for social connection. This message is reinforced when guests like Nicole Young of Sipteaze.com promote Punzoné Vodka while anchor Sukanya “Suki” Krishnan states:

You know what’s so great when you have people come over your house, the first thing you want is to have a little beautiful drink when somebody’s entertaining in their house. And that’s the first thing my mother always taught me: Offer a drink!

Krishnan’s on-air persona, often enthusiastic about cocktails, makes these native ads feel like mini-tutorials on how and why to drink, presented by well-paid media personalities acting as role models for excessive alcohol consumption. “I love my Martinis!” Krishnan exclaims in one segment, and “Who really has just one glass of wine, right? You know we all sometimes go above the recommended serving because we need to.” This kind of “alcoholic reasoning” is common among PIX11 News anchors, as seen on a “National Drink Wine Day” segment.

Despite broadcast industry policies against on-air personalities consuming alcohol, PIX11 News circumvents this by having camera personnel or even the broadcast director sample the beverages on camera, as documented in a “Shocktails For Halloween” segment.

Payola and Deceptive Practices: PIX11’s Troubled Past

PIX11 News and Sukanya Krishnan have a history with payola. The NY Daily News reported in 2009 that they were caught promoting restaurants in “Dining PIX” segments without disclosing that restaurants paid $10,000 or more in gift certificates for the feature. This violates FCC payola rules.

Payola can be disguised as in-kind payments, like gift certificates. Such practices are not new, even inspiring a 1978 Columbo episode about a restaurateur murdered for threatening to expose a payola scheme involving TV personalities and restaurant reviews.

Paul Farhi’s Washington Post article details common industry practices of stealth commercials masquerading as news. Since 2011, “native advertising” has become a way for broadcasters to demand a larger share of revenue for their role in these deceptions.

When PIX11 News introduces “lifestyle experts” or “trend forecasters,” they are often actors hired by marketing firms to promote products that manufacturers have paid to have featured. The industry’s approach has shifted from “don’t ask, don’t tell” to openly integrating paid promotions into news content.

Segments where anchors like Suki Krishnan enthusiastically endorse drinks made with low-quality alcohol and sugary mixes strongly suggest undisclosed financial arrangements. PIX11’s “Spooky Spirits” segment exemplifies this, prioritizing marketing over responsible journalism. There is no mention of alcoholism or drunk driving, only promotion of alcohol consumption to future generations.

Children and the Power of Marketing

It has been understood since the 1960s that TV advertising is a potent form of targeted propaganda. Its effectiveness intensifies when viewers are unaware they are watching an ad. Sponsored content disguised as news bypasses marketing defenses. While we may intellectually know advertisers are manipulative, we tend to trust news presenters. However, personalities like longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek now endorse questionable products like “guaranteed life insurance” that prey on vulnerable demographics.

Children are particularly defenseless against marketing. They desire toys seen on TV without understanding the manipulative intent behind commercials designed to create these desires. The song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory highlights the link between excessive consumerism and selfishness.

PIX11 News segments aired during children’s cartoon time often feature alcoholic cocktails for adults followed by “mocktail” versions for kids. Despite claims of being “kid-friendly,” these mocktails are presented as less desirable, yet serve to introduce children to the culture of drinking, similar to how candy cigarettes normalize smoking. Studies link candy cigarettes to later smoking habits, suggesting they “desensitize kids and open them more so to the idea of smoking later on.”

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Opponents of underage drinking have long criticized sweet, fruity drinks marketed to young people as gateways to harder liquor. Many cocktails promoted on PIX11 News during cartoon time are loaded with sugar syrup, fruit juice, and artificial colors, making them appealing to children.

PIX11 Morning News (6/29/2015): The ingredients for this July Fourth cocktail include a whole bottle of Riunite Lambrusco, and 2 cups black cherry soda, which liquor industry presenter Nicole Young calls her “secret weapon” (for getting kids to drink?). Note the apropos news ticker.

The Deeper Ethical Implications of Native Advertising

There is a fundamental difference between pursuing truth and catering to commercial interests. Responsible media outlets prioritize news gathering as a crucial duty, not something to be compromised for profit. However, historical events raise questions about the truthfulness of information presented to the public, especially regarding conflicts like Vietnam and Iraq.

Blurring the lines between news and advertising is ethically dangerous. When journalists promote products or causes for payment, it raises questions about their integrity and the very nature of truth in media. If everything is for sale, what becomes of truth, and how can we find it when it is most needed? Constant exposure to lies can desensitize us to deception and make us believe that truth is irrelevant, and that everything is simply about marketing, whether it’s a drink, a drug, or a war.

Mainstream media is increasingly focused on promoting consumerism rather than informing the public. This platform prioritizes production and consumption over critical insight. Insight, in fact, becomes the enemy because it encourages questioning whether endless consumption truly leads to happiness. It would also force a confrontation with the darker realities of issues like alcoholism, contrasting the celebratory tone of PIX11 News with the grim reality of lives destroyed by alcohol addiction, visible in places like skid row.

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This consumerist platform resembles a “Design For Dreaming,” like the 1956 General Motors film, where characters appear intoxicated by consumerism, buying into a fantasy of future happiness rather than actual products.

Sacrificing Balance for Commercial Gain

Balanced reporting is essential in journalism, yet “sponsored content” inherently lacks balance. When PIX11 News personalities who promote alcohol to children also influence political or religious viewpoints, it raises concerns about who is funding these perspectives. There is a conflict of interest when entities driven by commercial interests also promote a politically reactionary worldview that dismisses spiritual alternatives.

PIX11 News links its on-air liquor promotions with Facebook campaigns, further blurring the lines between content and advertising. This creates a message that equates drinking, entertainment, and superficiality with what’s considered “good,” while dismissing nonconformity and critical thinking. This approach contributes to a decline in media literacy and critical thinking skills, particularly among young viewers.

PIX11 News has also broadcast hoax stories, such as one produced by Mary Murphy, which faced significant criticism. This combination of sponsored content aimed at children and misleading stories damages the credibility of the Tribune brand, associated with WPIX-TV and other media outlets. The Hartford Courant, also under Rich Graziano’s past management, similarly faced accusations of prioritizing advertisers over journalistic integrity.

WPIX-TV has had a history of instability and name changes, reflecting a struggle to maintain its identity and credibility. Considering their extensive promotion of Four Roses Bourbon, a name like “FourRoses11 News” might be fittingly symbolic of their current priorities.

The Bourbon News for May 21st, 2016: A Satirical Look

(This section is a satirical example illustrating the extreme potential of sponsored news)

Kaity Tong: Are your kids diagnosed with ADHD? Kori Chambers has a solution.

Kori Chambers: May is National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Month. Bartender Franky Marshall will show us how mixed drinks can calm your kids, featuring Four Roses Bourbon. Franky?

Franky Marshall: Calming kids is tough and Ritalin is expensive. An old-fashioned solution? Hawaiian Haymaker: Four Roses Yellow Label and Hawaiian Punch. Or Shot In The Head: Four Roses Small Batch and strawberry Yoo-Hoo. Try it, Kori!

Kori Chambers: Can’t on duty, but the aroma!

Franky Marshall: Pour it on your head! Baldness remedy too.

Kori Chambers (pouring mixture on head): Refreshing! Follicles waking up, not agitated. They could listen to boring lectures…

Franky Marshall: Facebook and FourRoses11 promo! Kids, tell us in 50 words how Four Roses helped your school day, win a prize—a history book with emergency Four Roses for Peloponnesian War lessons!

Kori Chambers: Wish I had Four Roses back then!

Franky Marshall: Woodside Wannamaker cocktail: Four Roses Single Barrel, grave water, pencil erasers, bitters, principal’s note. Garnish with rosary bead, drink through mastodon diorama straw.

Kori Chambers: Delicious! Bob, our director, thirsty?

Bob: Directing news is man’s work! Fringe benefit of FourRoses11: food stories! But faves are cocktail stories for home and school! (Drinks Woodside Wannamaker) Ahhh, refreshing!

Kori Chambers: Recipe on FourRoses11-dot-com-slash-mastodon. Or video: “Teach Your Kids To Drink Religiously.” Franky, thanks! Back to you, Kaity!

Kaity Tong: Just say no to Ritalin, yes to Four Roses! Local news…

(Officer Joe Bolton bursts in, shutting down the station for unlicensed open bar. “Show’s over!”)

How to File Complaints with the FTC and FCC

Native advertising ethics and legality are distinct issues. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides a Guide For Businesses emphasizing that native ads must have “clear and prominent disclosure.” PIX11’s alcohol ads often seem to violate this, potentially breaking the law.

PIX11’s native ads appear on TV, online (PIX11 site, Amazon, AOL, Huffington Post), often without proper labeling. Amazon labels them “free video shorts,” despite being product ads with pricing and purchase info. McDonald’s, Starbucks, and children’s clothing retailers also appear to be major native advertising clients on PIX11 News.

To complain about native advertising, especially promoting alcohol to children, contact the FTC:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1

Use the “Other” category, and describe: Native advertising, failure to disclose sponsored content, marketing hard liquor to children. Include links to PIX11 videos or this blog post. For company details:

WPIX-TV Richard Graziano, President and General Manager 220 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017-5806 (212) 210-2411

Mention ownership by Tribune Media. For help, chat with an FTC rep online or call 1-877-FTC-HELP.

Undisclosed native advertising is payola, violating FCC rules. To complain to the FCC:

File a complaint online
Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322); TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322); ASL: 1-844-432-2275
Mail:

Federal Communications Commission Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20554

The FCC takes violations seriously, as seen in a case where a TV station was fined $115,000 for not disclosing a program sponsor promoting an auto dealership sale.

Michael Howard

The views expressed are my own, and do not represent any other person or organization.