Clever: Commercial Advertising in Schools? Take that Sacred Cow to Market!
Ran across this webinar sponsored by the National School Public Relations Association:
Commercial Advertising in Schools? Take that Sacred Cow to Market!
Friday Jan. 29, 2010Summary: Advertising has long been taboo in public education, but severe budget reductions and shortfalls now have districts rethinking their options. Learn how two innovative school systems challenged the status quo and skewered the sacred cow of “no advertising” to tap new sources of funding while promoting student success.
Moderator: Rich Bagin, APR, executive director, NSPRA
Panelists: Ken Blackstone, APR, director, communication services; and Steve Walts, Ed.D., superintendent, Prince William County Public Schools, Manassas, Va.; and Steve Valdez, director, instructional television, Weslaco (Texas) Independent School District
It’s bad enough when companies try to convince administrators that marketing in schools is inevitable — now cash-strapped districts may begin promoting it.
I hope these webinar attendees would also consider reading Click: The Twelfth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends: 2008-2009:
As part of their efforts to create a total advertising environment, companies continue to aggressively market in school to children and youth. Advertisers now routinely blur the boundaries between editorial content and advertising in an effort to thoroughly infuse childhood with marketing messages. . . .
This year‘s report considers how marketing and advertising subtly help shape children‘s socialization into values associated with commercialism. Although commercialism isn‘t explicitly included as part of the curriculum, it is taught subtly in school environments that include marketing and advertising. As marketing messages promote particular products, they simultaneously promote values that validate and support commercialism.
