Member Article

CBBC say it’s ok to cheat to win

CBBC under fire for telling kids it’s ok to cheat and lie your way to business success

Children’s channel CBBC have come under fire for their online quiz ‘Are you an entrepreneur?’ which contains a series of eight questions with three possible answers aimed at their juvenile audiences.

Correct answers include such gems as:

“You’re in the sweet shop when you find £5 on the floor. Do you: a) ask the shop owner who dropped it, b) buy sweets and scoff the lot, or c) buy sweets, sell them at a profit“.

The correct answer according to CBBC is c).

Or how about: “The batteries in the TV remote have run out! Your mum gives you some money and asks you to get new ones. Then your dad does the same thing! Do you a) give your dad his money back, b) use the old batteries, keep the cash, or c) keep your dad’s cash, he’ll never know.“

You’ve guessed it – the correct CBBC answer is c).

The only way to get defined as a potential entrepreneur, as opposed to someone who was “too nice to get to the top in business” appeared to be to select the answer involving the maximum amount of cheating or lying. Perhaps “Are you a sociopath?“ might have been a better title.

Of course CBBC may think they are offering some cutting edge satire on the state of corporate morality, but that can be a difficult concept to explain to a child who is effectively being told that to succeed in business they need to abandon the very values that are the cornerstone of responsible citizenship.

Lorraine Allman, author of Enterprising Child says:

“My 8 year old son has so far shown great entrepreneurial flair, being the UK’s youngest successful crowdfunder age 7, and running his own sweet and candy floss business. He was somewhat perplexed to score just 1 out of 8 on the entrepreneurial scale; apparently he is too nice and honest to succeed! This flies in the face of everything I am teaching him and the Enterprising Child philosophy which emphasises core values of honesty and integrity, as well as creativity and resourcefulness“.

Felipe AlviarBaquero who appeared in last year’s BBC The Apprentice was considered to be the ‘nice guy’ in the series, and whilst he didn’t win the coveted £250k from Lord Sugar, he did feel it was more important to maintain his moral integrity and self-respect, and is passionate about helping young people understand the opportunities which entrepreneurship offer to make a difference to society. He says:

“You don’t need to be lying, cheating, and back stabbing to succeed in business. I’m really shocked and disgusted by the message that CBBC is putting across to young people through this quiz.“

#cbbcquiz

ENDS

EDITORIAL NOTES:

About Felipe AlviarBaquero Felipe is well known for appearing in Series 10 of the BBC Apprentice. The most memorable moment of the series was when Felipe outsmarted Lord Sugar in what is now better known as ‘skeletongate’. He has a passion for charitable work and social entrepreneurship. He designed, built and operates Tiny Town, one of the biggest indoor play areas in the UK, designed to provide the community, children and parents with a place where they can learn, play, exercise and interact.

Contact: 07747 802864, or via http://www.felipealviar-baquero.com/ Felipe tweets @FelipeABaquero

About Lorraine Allman Lorraine Allman is a business woman of 17 years, author of ‘Enterprising Child: developing your child’s entrepreneurial potential’, and Mum to the UK’s youngest successful crowdfunder and the First Young Ambassador for Crowdfunding in the UK.

Contact: 07766 415121, email lorraine@enterprisingchild.com Lorraine tweets @EnterpriseChild and @beindemand www.enterprisingchild.com

CBBC Quiz The CBBC ‘Are you an entrepreneur’ quiz can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/entrepreneur-quiz Screen shots of all 8 questions from the quiz are available. CBBC is a digital channel aimed at 7 to 12 year olds.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lorraine Allman .