Cartoon Network’s Dragonball Z show inspires 450,000 children across 500 schools to learn the art of self defence

Media News

New Delhi, June 29

Cartoon Network, leaders in the Indian kids’ television genre, brings yet again a stimulating and responsible initiative, Cartoon Network School of Self Defence under the aegis of its popular anime show – DRAGONBALL Z. In order to bid a cheery farewell to summer vacations that were made exciting with an exclusive summer programming line up, Cartoon Network will promote basic martial arts self defence training for students across 500 schools in nine cities reaching approximately 450,000 kids. This exciting initiative has been interwoven with the hugely popular show on Cartoon Network, DRAGONBALL Z and its lead character Goku. The objective is to inculcate the intrinsic values like self defence, discipline and concentration power in kids and also initiate and impress upon them the importance of martial arts in day to day life.

Monica Tata, Vice President, Advertising Sales and Networks, India and South Asia, Turner International India Pvt Ltd said, “As a responsible broadcaster and the number one choice of Indian kids’, Cartoon Network takes its influence on children very seriously, and has always aimed to constructively engage them through its various stunts and programming initiatives. The basic idea behind this exciting and important new initiative, Cartoon Network School of Self Defence is to bring out the intrinsic values of the popular show, DRAGONBALL Z and through the adventures of Goku, the central character in the series, and encourage young viewers to face the real world, face evil with courage and impress upon kids the importance of self defence and the positives that such training can bring to their lives.”

The self defence workshops will be spearheaded by martial arts consultant, Sharif, who is a 5th Dan in Kick boxing, a fourth degree black belt in Karate and has been enlisted for several corporate trainings. In consultation with the Network, Sharif has specially designed a module relevant, apt and beneficial to kids between 6-12 years.

Sharif is the Technical Director of Academy Of Self Defense in the heartland of Mumbai. Sharif is also the President of All Japan Gojuryu Karate-Do Goshukan and member of some of the esteemed Martial Arts associations like Japan Karate Federation (GOJUKAI),

World Association of Kickboxing Organisation; World Asian and Indian Karate federations. To date, Sharif has trained over 25000 students across India in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir & Delhi. Also, over 70,000 women have attended his lectures on self defence.

DRAGONBALL Z is of the most important programming launches of 2007 on Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of Goku, who along with the Z Warriors defends the Earth against evil. The action packed adventures are entertaining and reinforces the concept of good versus evil. Dragon Ball Z also teaches valuable character virtues such as teamwork, loyalty, trustworthiness among other moral values. The series is a global phenomenon and was launched on Cartoon Network on May 1, 2007. Within months of its launch, the show already has a large fan following and has grown Cartoon Network’s morning slot ratings by 27%.

Using Goku as an inspiration, the Cartoon Network teams will be traveling to over 500 schools, across nine cities namely, Delhi Mumbai Kolkata Hyderabad Ahmedabad Vadodra Lucknow Coimbatore Bangalore, starting 4 July and will hold workshops for over 450,000 kids all over India. Different workshop modules for different age groups have been planned and three key moves for each age-group have been identified. These workshops will be conducted by local martial arts experts.

To further involve kids with DRAGONBALL Z, Cartoon Network is starting a fun and innovative contest from 15th July. With signature power-shouts forming an integral part of DRAGONBALL Z, the contest spot will ask kids to pick up the phone and give their best ‘power shout’ like their hero Goku. Four lucky kids will win a fabulous, once in a life time opportunity to feature as a super hero in an animated short! And just like their favourite toon hero Goku – they get to save the world.

Turner’s Cartoon Network and POGO are the # 1 and # 2 television destinations dedicated to kids in India. Having shaped kids’ television in India with the launch of Cartoon Network in 1995, Turner created another milestone with the launch of POGO in 2004, a multi-genre channel for kids and their families. Recognized as the resident kids’ experts with a 360-degree presence through successful on-air and on line presence, ground-events, promotional licensing, product licensing, theme parks, products, publishing, CD ROMS, etc, Cartoon Network and POGO, with an intelligent mix of live action, documentaries, movies and animation, offer a complete entertainment package for Indian kids.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment products around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry.

For further queries, contact:

Abha Talwar

Turner International India Pvt Ltd

011-41699117

abha.talwar@turner.com

Arpita Bhatia

IPAN

011-42492100

arpita.bhatia@ipan.com