Barney & Friends Puppet Marathon (battybarney2014's version)

Barney & Friends Puppet Marathon was an event which aired on PBS stations across the United States and Canada in January 23, 1996.

History
After PBS decided to cancel Barney & Friends despite being renewed for the Barney's Musical Scrapbook and Season 4, members of local PBS stations across the U.S. and Canada called to object. After the decision was made to keep Barney on the air, PBS realized that they were short on funds for their children's programming.

Event
The marathon was basically an ordinary PBS pledge drive, however during this drive, PBS first aired episodes of Barney & Friends and offered Barney merchandise as thank-you gifts for contributions to PBS. During the pledge drive, Barney was also shown giving messages to viewers asking to pledge. The marathon was wrapped up with a television airing of Barney Live! in New York City.

Controversy
Some parents and members were offended by the use of Barney merchandise, such as plush toys and videos as recognition gifts. They saw the use of them as a commercial rather than a sign of recognition for devotion to trustworthy PBS programming.