Time To Ban School Sponsorship
Posted: 6/15/2010 11:12:57 AM by
Jim Andrews | with 0 comments
The Wall Street Journal ran a page one story yesterday on the rise in local school districts seeking private support from businesses and other organizations to offset budget cuts resulting from decreasing tax revenues.
Among those opening their wallets to buy classroom supplies and fund other aspects of public elementary and high school education efforts are religious institutions, which of course has set off a debate about separation of church and state.
While that is a legitimate discussion, in my mind this issue should be talked about in broader terms, for it really doesn’t matter if we are looking at a Baptist church in Florida or a Coca-Cola distributor in Seattle—the crux of the matter is whether any private concern should have access to school children for the purposes of trying to market and sell products, services, beliefs or anything else.
From my close observation of this topic for more than 20 years, it’s apparent that most people believe marketing to kids through schools is a bad idea. If that is indeed a value we as a society want to uphold, than the time has come to simply set some rules that allow for private support of an education system that can badly use it.
One way to do this would be to take sponsorship out of the equation. Since IEG’s industry-standard definition of sponsorship allows the sponsor “access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with (the sponsored) property,” it appears that a majority of folks would be comfortable with abolishing the idea of sponsorship of primary and secondary schools.
Marketers and others who want to contribute to public education could still do so as a philanthropic gesture. They could receive donor recognition—including naming rights and other permanent recognition typically accorded major contributors—and could tout their support through other communications efforts, but would not receive further access to students for commercial purposes.
As a general proponent and longtime advocate of sponsorship (and not just because it is how I make my living), I don’t make this suggestion lightly.
Perhaps I have come to it after years of being frustrated by American attitudes that shy away from taking a stand and instead try to reach compromises that let everyone have their cake and eat it too. Typically, these half-assed measures—e.g., bans on certain types of cigarette advertising—have little to no impact other than to confuse and frustrate both sides.
Believe marketing to kids in school is a bad idea? Fine, ban it and let’s move on.
Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, arguments, etc.!
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Filed under: cause marketing, guidelines, strategic philanthropy, trends, what is sponsorship, backlash