Commercialism in Schools

Commercialism in AmericaWe live in society inundated with commercialsSports are prime venues Athletes are walking billboards 2004--jockeys successfully sued Kentucky Horse

Racing Association to wear ads in Kentucky Derby Sports venues carry names of corporations rather

than politicians Fleet Center, Staples Center, Coors Field, Minute Maid

Park Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium

Bowl games named for corporate sponsors Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl

Not limited to sports Cities selling naming rights

2004—History Channel agreed to provide New York City $15 million in free advertising to promote tourism; in return, City will attach HC’s name to various tourist attractions around town

NYC exploring selling naming rights to subway stations, bus lines, bridges and tunnels

Hospitals and other non-profits Hasbro Childrens Hospital, Providence Ford Center for Performing Arts,

Chicago General Motors Hall of Transportation

at Smithsonian Museum, Washington

2003— More newborns named Armani than

Ann More infants named Lexus and

Mercedes than Nancy

Major League Baseball’s attempt to put Spider-Man 2 ads on bases

Wizmark Interactive Urinal Communicator

July, 2000 Pizza Hut paid >$1 million for right to paint its new logo on side of Russian rocket delivering parts to International Space Station

Logo burned up, but Pizza Hut figured it was worth it for media coverage of event viewed by over 500 million people

Chose this method after rejecting as too expensive use of lasers to project image of its logo the size of Texas on moon

1. Corporate sponsorships of school activities

2. Exclusive contracts3. In-school advertising4. Sponsored educational materials

(SEMs)5. Electronic commercial programming6. Naming rights

1. Corporate sponsorships of school activities

Increased by 248% in 1990’sExamples: Eddie Bauer sponsored the final round

of the National Geography Bee Students receive free book covers

with ads for Nike and Calvin Klein Students who meet monthly reading

goals rewarded with certificate for Pizza Hut pizza

General Mills “Box Tops for Education” program schools get $.10 for each box top logo sent in can earn up to $10,000 a year 100,000 products sold

Campbell’s Soup “Labels for Education” program provides a “free” computer for each 94,950 soup labels Campbell’s suggests goal of one label a day for

each student

2. Exclusive contracts

Increased by 1,384% in 1990’sExamples: 240 school districts in 31 states sold exclusive

rights to Coke, Pepsi or Dr. Pepper Colorado Springs signed agreement with Coke that

will pay $8.4 million over ten years Part of deal is requirement to sell 70,000 cases of

Coke products a year School officials urged principals to allow students

unlimited access to Coke machines and allow students to drink Coke in class

In 1996, Wylie, Texas school district signed deal that shared rights between Coke and Dr. Pepper

Each paid school $31,000 a year In 1998 district changed mind and signed

exclusive deal with Coke worth $1.2 million over fifteen years

Dr. Pepper sued for breach of contract District paid $180,000 to buy out Dr.

Pepper’s contract

Greenbrier High in Evans, Georgia had “Coke Day”

Part of the school’s entry in national “Team Up With Coca-Cola” contest awarded $10,000 to school that came up with

best plan for distributing Coke discount cards Student wore Pepsi t-shirt to school Suspended for “being disruptive and trying

to destroy the school picture”

3. In-school advertising

Increased 539% in 1990’sExamples: Colorado Springs school buses

advertise Burger King and Wendy’s Distributes book covers and school

planners with ads for Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and pictures of FOX TV personalities

Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas rejected ads in classrooms

Permitted Dr. Pepper and 7-Up to paint logos on rooftops of two high schools that lie under flight path of Dallas-Fort Worth airport

4. Sponsored educational materials

Increased by 1,875% in 1990’sExamples: ExxonMobil developed lesson plans about

the flourishing wildlife in Prince William Sound Site of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chips Ahoy has counting game where you figure number of chocolate chips in cookies

Campbell’s Soup created science lesson where students compared viscosity of Prego sauce to Ragu’s Recalled after protests

General Motors provides economics texts in many high schools

McGraw-Hill prints sixth-grade math book that includes brand names in math equations

CU reports that 80% of such “lessons” contain wrong or misleading information

5. Electronic commercial programming

Also known as “electronic marketing”Increased by 139% in 1990’s Offering programming or equipment in

exchange for right to advertise to students Disproportionately shown in schools in low

income communities with minority populations where least amount is spent on educational materials

Examples: ZapMe! Corporation provided free

computer labs and access to pre-selected web sites

Schools agreed to use lab at least four hours per day

Issues: Web browser had constantly scrolling ads Company collected information on

students’ browsing habits Under pressure from parents and citizens,

forced to withdraw from market

Channel One provides programming to 8 million students in 12,000 classrooms 40% of US middle and high schools

Daily 12-minute programming equivalent of six full school days a year

20% devoted to stories about politics, economy and cultural and social issues

80% is advertising, sports, weather, features and promotions

“The advertiser gets a group of kids who cannot go to the bathroom, cannot change the station, cannot listen to their mother yell in the background, cannot be playing Nintendo, cannot have their headsets on.”--Former president of Channel One on

advantages for advertisers

Naming rights 2001—Alice Costello Elementary School in

Brooklawn, NJ became first school to sell naming rights for gym to corporate sponsor Shop-Rite of Brooklawn Center $100,000 for 20 years

Other sponsorships still available $5,000 to sponsor jump circle on floor $2,500 for baseline $500 for wall banner

Since then, similar deals being made around country--from Nike to local tire shops

Three Texas towns sold naming rights to football stadiums for > $1 million

All three high schools in Plano, Texas have corporate sponsors for home football games Golden Chick Plano East vs. Garland game

Florida: Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union Stadium at Everglades High School

Chicago: Rust-Oleum Field at Vernon Hills High School

Southern California: San Joaquin Section/Les Schwab Tires Division I Championship

Efforts to stop commercialism in schools

A number of organizations involved in effort:

Education Policy Studies Laboratory’s Commercial Education Research Unit

Commercial Alert Channel 1 campaign

Adbusters