The ABC Mouse Online Advertisement
With 39 million American schoolchildren sent home due to the coronavirus, Scientologist-owned ABC Mouse is now, apparently, offering “free access” as part of its capitalistic response to the coronavirus.
Google the search terms “ABC mouse is offering free membership now.Code: SCHOOL7771” to see how ABC Mouse is using online coupon marketing to reach new customers. Here is the coupon which offers Free ABC Mouse Online Access for Pre-K through 8th Grade:
We went to the ABC Mouse website from multiple referral websites. We typed in the code SCHOOL7771 and received the same error message in red:
Parents are told to contact their school for the appropriate code. What is going on here with the ABC Mouse offer? Is this a tactic? Is it a marketing strategy to get parents demanding that school districts capitulate to ABC Mouse’s offer of free access? And what is meant by free access? Is ABC Mouse throwing open the doors of its entire websites and content for free? Or is there a charge after gaining free access? Is there a catch?
And what of existing paying customers? Do they now get free access if their children have been sent home from school due to the coronavirus? ABC Mouse charges a monthly subscription fee of $9.95. The company is always running free or lower cost specials for the first month or two months. ABC Mouse would go broke if it gave away everything for free. What we are asking for is a clear explanation of what ABC Mouse’s offer actually consists of: What is the actual dollar cost to parents whose children have been sent home? What are the real terms and conditions of the offer?
We further note that ABC Mouse is a privately-held company that appears to be seeking to bypass the authority of School Boards. Teachers and administrators do not have the independent authority to act upon offers from private companies. Such decisions can only occur at the School Board level.
We navigated to the Age of Learning website and found these two messages. The first message claims that free home access is available. Again, what does “free access” mean?
The second message (below in a yellow block) instructs parents or guardians to contact an administrator or teacher to complete this form. This second message is also confusing as it states that ABC Mouse has partnered with UNICEF to make its resources free to schools outside the US. This implies that ABC Mouse’s resources are not free to US schools.
Here is the form ABC Mouse wants filled out. The form is a breathtaking attempt at massive data mining by ABC Mouse:
Categories: The Scientology Money Project
Disclaimer–I have no school-age children. My big question is about the yellow box that says”ask an administrator or teacher at your school to complete this form” Many school districts are doing the “social distancing” or “shelter in place” thing, so how does ABC Mouse expect a parent/guardian to “ask” school personnel to complete this form?
That’s a great question. I guess you e-mail them and ask them to bypass the School Board. BTW, we searched the ABC Mouse site and all we could find was a special to enroll three kids for the price of one. There appears to be nothing free at ABC. We’ll stay tuned.
I stumbled on this article. As a parent I wanted to note that my kids’ school provided a school code to all parents on the school’s Facebook page. We have had free access for months, it’s not a scam.
We’re skeptical of your claim. We researched and found links such as this one. Here is a comment at the link that is typical:
What ABC Mouse seems to be doing is offering 2 months for $5.00 and then $9.95 a month thereafter.
Click this link to read details from ABC Mouse. We welcome a clarification from ABC Mouse.
This wasn’t a scam. We received free access (I heard about it back in March from a friend and googled it. Found a specific link and code to use on a random blog. Worked without an issue.) and then received an email through my child’s school with another code to use. We never needed to use it though. It originally was supposed to be until the end of the school year but they sent an email out on 5/29 saying they were extending it until Labor Day.
My kid only uses it every once in a while so I was googling whether it would be worth continuing or not for my kid’s academic level when I came across the Scientology connection and ended up here due to that. I am no longer planning on giving them any money to continue due to the Scientology connection but this was a (albeit convoluted) genuine free offer that is still ongoing until next month. In fact my daughter’s playing on it at this very moment.