Victory! ZapMe Zapped…

Victory! ZapMe Zapped…
by Growing Backlash Against Ads in Schools

An important victory against commercialism in schools was celebrated in October 2000 with the failure of the ZapMe corporation, an internet provider for schools modeled after the infamous Channel One.

ZapMe has now abandoned their attempt to become another vehicle for advertisers to enter public school classrooms.

ZapMe is the company who offered "free" computers to schools willing to contractually agree to have students use them for a minimum of four hours
per day.

ZapMe, a web browser service that played constant advertising in the lower left hand corner of the screen, was then able to turn around and guarantee their advertisers the same promise of a "captive audience" as Channel One.

The company also used the computers to monitor student preferences and collect student demographic information, all of which could be reported back to advertisers.

ZapMe's presentation to school boards skipped over all of the less attractive details, including the fact that the computers were very limited in their use, and actually had their disk drives sealed shut to discourage schools from using
them for any other purpose.

ZapMe announced in October that they are selling 51% of their company stock to Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., who intends to use ZapMe's resources to pursue a new business to business marketing strategy, thus taking the company focus away from operating in schools.

ZapMe announced they will explore all options for the future of the company, including the possibility of the complete divestiture of their educational network.

ZapMe announced that they will stop installing new computers in schools immediately.

It is still unclear what will become of the schools that have already contracted with the company, but in November, ZapMe was sending out letters telling some schools they will have to pay for the service or return the computers.

"All in all, this is an enormous victory for all community members around the country who oppose advertising in schools," said Andrew Hagelshaw, Executive Director for the Center.

"ZapMe collapsed under the weight of their own faulty business plan. They were counting on funding their operations through advertising to a captive audience of students."