advertising in school

[hakeber]

So much to my dismay I walked out of my class this morning and I saw three of those billboard trucks outside of my son's playground (the primary school was already outside and the kindergarteners were about to go out to play, but surely these were visible from the classroom windows) and several actors on pogo stick stilts dressed as pirates and giving out Priates of the Carribean stickers and pins (apparently this movie is opening here this weekend.)

I wrote a rather hasty and scathing email to the headmistress who was also shocked and upon further inquiry discovered that the 4th graders are doing a unit on the advantages and disadvantages of advertising and they invited a guest speaker (who is apparently connected with Walt Disney) to come speak to them about advertising and brought along the display as a visual example of advertising (like we needed THAT, we couldn't just look around the room and SEE the advertisments on the school bags and lunch boxes?)

I get the idea but I am still quite angry.  Who okayed this?  Who thought it would be a good idea to expose the children to a walking talking advertising campaign for a violent Disney film rated PG-13 as a point of discussion for 11 year olds?  Who thought it would be a good idea to let them bring their team of actors along to promote the movie to kids who are not old enough to watching this film anyway?  And who thought it would be okay to do so during a school day?! 

I know I am overreacting a little...in my heart I know that I can't protect him from violent images in the media forever, or evcen as long as I would like to...but in school?!  We pay a lot of money and it's still only 14% of what most parents here pay, to have my son attend a school whose values I thought I understood and respected.  Now I am not so sure.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being livid and 1 being perfectly okay, how mad would you be if  you saw that sort of thing at your kid's school?

The headmistress assures me it won't happen again, and I am happy with the result of my letter to her, but I am still reeling at the obliviousness of the teachers and admin who okayed this and who thought this was a good idea.  WTF?!

[4evermom]

They were showing ads on tvs before announcements when my brothers were in high school in the 80's.  Sadly advertising in school isn't new.  But, yeah, I'd be PO'd.

[One_Girl]

I would think it was really neat that actors from something that is popular with kids and adults of all ages were coming to my child's class to talk about something related to education.  About half of the kids in my dd's preschool class had seen the first movie in the theater and I am sure my dd will see it before she is 13 because there is really not anything that objectionable about it so I wouldn't be at all upset.

The values thing would upset me a little more though and I would want clarification on that so I could decide on how to move on.  Since this is upsetting you I think you should pursue it a little more to see just how closely your values and the school's values match up.  It will probably never be 100% but if this is something that would be a deal-breaker you need to make sure it isn't something that is going to be encouraged in other less obvious ways at this school. 

The fact that I personally see it as a small deal should in no way discourage you from pursuing the values you want for your child.  I am sure there are things that you see as a small deal that I would pull my child out of a school over.  I think you were right to pursue this and should continue to until you are satisfied that you have chosen the school that meets the needs of your family.

[hakeber]

To clarify they were not actors from the film, they were just circus performer type people dressed up as pirates as a promotion thing...it was the billboards and the pins that really annoyed me.

[velochic]

My knee-jerk reaction, OP, is that I agree with you.  Even if it had been age-appropriate (and it wasn't as it is a PG-13 movie), they have to consider the younger children.

[CarrieMF]

Did the teacher know the guest speaker was doing this whole production?

My kids are 12, 10 & 9.  they would have LOVED this.  The youngest moreso if it was princesses but she likes the pirates of the carribean series.

[hakeber]

That was my feeling.  It wasn't people coming to talk about a film, it was an ad agency rep coming to talk to the 4th graders about advertising techniques...and they brought along their most recent promotional campaign as "a visual aid"  (their words). 

I find this disingenuous at best as it wasn't only presented to the 4th graders but they went all over the school and had the main event parked in front of the pre-school buildings and playgrounds for over two hours despite the talk being a total of 35 minutes.  I also found out today from a 4th grade teacher that the representative came from one of the top firms in Bogota which just happens to be owned by one of the grade four parents. The craziest part for me is that part of our English budget was used to pay the rep to come to campus and speak...and bring his ad campaign along...so the firm actually got paid by the school to advertise their client's film on campus....how nuts is THAT?  We didn't even get any dough out of the ads!

I also do not think of it as a family film, for all ages.  DS saw part of one when he was five and it scared the bejeezus out of him...The guy with the octopus face I think...anyway we don't need them, or the 2-4 year olds on the campus to see big posters of that on his playground. That's cool if your kids are fine with that level of violence, and graphic images of monsters, but not all kids are and I don't think it's a school's job to condone desensitizing those who aren't.  The school has kids ages 2-18...they weren't parked outside the secondary play field (and they could have but they chose not to...the question is why?  well I know why, because I know Disney's techniques for advertising to kids from birth, but that's another argument for another day) but they were parked right outside the building for Nursery, Pre-K, K and Transition...ages 2-7.    

And also this is not a public school, this is a private school, the 3rd most expensive and exclusive private school in Colombia, and we follow the IB world system which is supposed to encourage an environment that is free from corporate manipulation (apart from the IB corporation of course, ha ha ha), but those are the values they have professed to have (and the Headmistress assures me they do) but, unfortunately, I don't see a lot of that from the teachers and admin in primary.  I am hoping this will change next year as we are getting a LOT of new staff on that end of the school...if I don't see a big improvement and more implementation of my constructive criticisms  (I am head of the English department at the school so I hold a position of relative power there, too, beyond being a parent), I may look into seeing if I can exchange my tuition voucher for another school or look into finding a co-op/waldorf style school for him or something.  I want my son to grow up comfortable with navigating the media of the world, not just being randomly exposed to the bits and pieces chosen by rather tunnel visioned teachers and admin who do not have the insight themselves into the manipulative powers of the media let alone the ability to guide my son into finding his own footing in navigating mainstream media.

I have asked the year four teachers to let my year ten students have a class to play some games with them, like Product placement scavenger hunts, and an activity that discusses globalization from the point of view of consumerism and resources, and a short kid friendly film about advertising techniques used to attract kids to products.  I am hoping we can make a fun day out of it and maybe we can share some ideas for how to do things better next year.

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

Did the teacher know the guest speaker was doing this whole production?

My kids are 12, 10 & 9.  they would have LOVED this.  The youngest moreso if it was princesses but she likes the pirates of the carribean series.

I do not know for certain, but they came with three trucks, a troop of about 12 performers and the guest speaker so I am going to guess yes, because you have to have a background check to get on campus and be approved by the head of section and signed in by the person who invited you (I believe the head of year of fourth grade (there are 5 groups of that grade).  There are some pretty wealthy kids on campus, so they keep security ridiculously tight.

I am sure all the kids enjoyed it immensely.  Jugglers on pogo stilts dressed as pirates having sword fights and all that, giving out free stickers and pins and candy....who wouldn't enjoy that?  That is not really the point though, is it?  It is specifically designed for them to enjoy it and to SELL the movie.  A movie I have ZERO intention of taking my 6 year old son to.  This was not designed to create a reflection on the powers of advertising, or the manipulative techniques employed, was it?  According to my 4th grade teacher friend, that was the end of the unit.  There was no time for reflection or discussion after the speaker left, so basically the impression they were left with at the end of the week is advertising ROCKS and so do the Pirates of the Carribean...Coming out May 16th!

And that's for the kids who actually got to speak with the guest speaker, forget about all the other kids who were exposed to the media circus without any guest speaker to clarify the point of it all.

ETA:  I guess I just don't feel like I pay the money I pay (and I only pay 14% of what the other parents do!) to send my kid to school to be part of a focus group for an ad campaign, ya know?  It creeps me out.  I am at least very glad the Headmistress agrees with me and is going to make sure this sort of this doesn't happen again.  That is a huge relief.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

My kids are 12, 10 & 9.  they would have LOVED this.  The youngest moreso if it was princesses but she likes the pirates of the carribean series.

There is a huge battle being fought here in RI regarding a prayer banner that has been posted on the walls of a public high school for about 50 years. A lot of people love having it there. That doesn't make it legal or ethical.

[SuburbanHippie]

It might irk me a little, but definitely not enough to write a letter or anything like that.  I get more irritated that the school's breakfast menu is a big advertisement for Kellogg's from their poptarts to their cereal.  It's disgusting and I feel terrible for the kids that actually consume that garbage.

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by SuburbanHippie 

It might irk me a little, but definitely not enough to write a letter or anything like that.  I get more irritated that the school's breakfast menu is a big advertisement for Kellogg's from their poptarts to their cereal.  It's disgusting and I feel terrible for the kids that actually consume that garbage.

Your school sells pop tarts and kelloggs in the cafeteria? 

wow.

US public schools are in worse shape than I thought.  I always assumed all those media awareness videos I show my kids about the US were sort of exaggerated.  Maybe they are actually underplaying it.

That's so wrong.

[One_Girl]

Well if the guest speaker didn't actually speak to the entire class and there was no time to reflect afterwards I would probably be very irritated that class time was wasted on that.  That is not what occurs with guest speakers or field trips at my dd's IB school and they are not a private school.  The reflective discussions guided by the teacher are very important no matter what type of school you are teaching in, especially if the guest speaker or field trip guide gives a lesson that is completely different from the one you thought you would be getting.  It sounds like this could possibly be a guest speaker fiasco but that makes it more important for the teacher to pull out things they can use from the fiasco to back up the lesson they wanted the kids to learn during the post fiasco discussion.  Media doesn't bother me but wasting class time with something that doesn't lead to learning does and that is something I would address with the teacher if my child was in that grade. 

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by One_Girl 

Well if the guest speaker didn't actually speak to the entire class and there was no time to reflect afterwards I would probably be very irritated that class time was wasted on that.  That is not what occurs with guest speakers or field trips at my dd's IB school and they are not a private school.  The reflective discussions guided by the teacher are very important no matter what type of school you are teaching in, especially if the guest speaker or field trip guide gives a lesson that is completely different from the one you thought you would be getting.  It sounds like this could possibly be a guest speaker fiasco but that makes it more important for the teacher to pull out things they can use from the fiasco to back up the lesson they wanted the kids to learn during the post fiasco discussion.  Media doesn't bother me but wasting class time with something that doesn't lead to learning does and that is something I would address with the teacher if my child was in that grade. 

I think he spoke to the whole grade, in an assembly like thing, but he didn't speak to the whole SCHOOL, and the whole of the pre-school and primary school were actively involved with the promotional activities, being given pins and stickers and watching the performers during their morning line up and recess.  But yeah...even the assembly had no real guided follow up.  The amount of class time wasted at the school is PHENOMENAL!!!  The way they deliver PYP is just so half-assed, it's really frustrating.  We're getting seven new staff members in Transition and grade one next year who all have expertise knowledge in the program and a new PYP coordinator who seems really on the ball. 

I've sent a mail to the HOY suggesting we get together and discuss ways we can do some reflection with her kids and mine.  I can only hope she will take me up on it and find time in the schedule.  My year ten students are super keen to do the activites and games and lead discussions with them.  Fingers crossed I get an e-mail back. 

FWIW, I am being WAY more diplomatic and gentle with my words with my Co-workers than I am here...I promise I'm not really as bossy in person as I sound here.

[SuburbanHippie]

Originally Posted by hakeber 

Your school sells pop tarts and kelloggs in the cafeteria? 

wow.

US public schools are in worse shape than I thought.  I always assumed all those media awareness videos I show my kids about the US were sort of exaggerated.  Maybe they are actually underplaying it.

That's so wrong.

Eh, it's not so much of selling.  About 90% of the kids at the school qualify for free/reduced meals so the school district is basically giving it away.  I'm fairly certain they have a contract with Kellogg's.
 

[CarrieMF]

There is a huge battle being fought here in RI regarding a prayer banner that has been posted on the walls of a public high school for about 50 years. A lot of people love having it there. That doesn't make it legal or ethical.

What happened in the school is NOT illegal & whether it's ethical or not depends on individual opinions.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

What happened in the school is NOT illegal & whether it's ethical or not depends on individual opinions.

When I mentioned legalities, I was referring to the scenario in my own post regarding the prayer banner.

Obviously, the ethics depend upon individual opinions. Ethics is always about opinion.

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

What happened in the school is NOT illegal & whether it's ethical or not depends on individual opinions.

I am not sure if that is true about the first part HERE.  I am looking into it with a small committee of other concerned parents from the pre-school and Kinder section, two of who are commerical business lawyers and hoepfully will help us get to the bottom of this.

I really have a hard time understanding how anyone can argue that is it ethical to expose children, not with pro-active thought, discussion and study of advertising but willy-nilly and quite clearly as victims of an active marketing campaign, to the manipulative powers of advertising and product placement in an institution of learning.  If anything should be sacred, that should be.

But I would love to hear how it could be considered ethical to allow product placement in schools.  The very practice of product placement in any form of media is morally questionable at best, but in schools? 

I'd love to hear an argument made for the ethics of advertising in schools.  I always thought it was a pretty commonly accepted prinicple of advertising that the industry as it pertained to commericial marketing was devoid of any ethical guidelines.  But I'm open to seeing another point of view.  

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by SuburbanHippie 

Eh, it's not so much of selling.  About 90% of the kids at the school qualify for free/reduced meals so the school district is basically giving it away.  I'm fairly certain they have a contract with Kellogg's.
 

ewww.  I'd rather my kid eat powdered eggs and toast.  Gross.  I mean their corn flakes are okay, and their Muesli is nice but something tells me if they serve pop tarts (gag) they probably also are more into the fruit loops and frosted flakes end than they are the whole grain end of Kelloggs.

That's so wrong that our tax dollars are going to a corporation that thrives off of the sugar and artificial color poisoning of children, and that we pay for it, to boot.  I am so glad I don't live there.

[2xy]

What I find to be humorous is that Dr. Kellogg was extremely anti-sugar. He believed that sugar was an aphrodisiac and he believed strongly in sexual abstinence (which is why he was also a huge proponent of male circumcision....to curb masturbation).

He's probably turning over in his grave because of all the junk food bearing his name!

[Polliwog]

My kids school used to offer those breakfast packs, too, but now has MUCH healthier foods at breakfast.

The advertising thing wouldn't bother me all that much but PAYING for it would make me livid.