Commercialism in Schools

Commercialism in America We live in society inundated with commercials Sports are prime venues  Athletes are walking billboards  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 contracts 3.In-school advertising 4.Sponsored educational materials (SEMs) 5.Electronic commercial programming 6.Naming rights

1. Corporate sponsorships of school activities Increased by 248% in 1990’s Examples:  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’s Examples:  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’s Examples:  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’s Examples:  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 Education Research Unit  Commercial Alert Commercial Alert Channel 1 campaign  Adbusters Adbusters