The Corporate Klassroom
Advertisers clamouring to get into the education biz
HighGrader Magazine November/December 1998
by Charlie Angus
Schools across Canada are in a race to buy cornflakes. The school that collects the most box labels from a Kellogg's product gets $20,000 worth of computers (second place gets $10,000 and third $2,500). This is the gist behind the Education is Tops program being floated by the cereal giant. One set of prizes will be awarded in Ontario, one in Quebec and one in western Canada. All the other schools who take part will be treated to educational supplements written by Kellogg's. The supplements deal with nutrition and the importance of having a well-balanced breakfast.
Jackie Nelson is a spokesperson for Kellogg's. She says the educational supplements are not simply an attempt to advertise to Kellogg's target market.
"Kellogg's' reputation is not worth risking on some hard brand sale in the schools. That's not what the children are there to learn about. They are there to learn about the 3 R's. Naturally, however, we hope that when they think of breakfast they think of Kellogg's."
Nelson says that it is important to have Kellogg's name on the supplements because "it will lend credibility" to what the children are learning.
The program is also good for business. Says Nelson, "Since they (the students) do have to collect UPC labels they will inadvertently be purchasing Kellogg's products. We are (after all) a business."
Heather Jane Robertson, the author of No More Teachers No More Books: The Commercialization of Canada's Schools, isn't impressed.
"It's absolutely foolish for us to think that Kellogg's is doing this for the welfare of the children. The private sector does not exist to serve the interests of children. That's not what it's there for."
Robertson says she is outraged that the education system is allowing the schools become a vehicle for corporate advertising.
"Think about it. There's 25,000 schools in Canada. For about $3 a school they (Kellogg's) are getting God knows how many students, teachers and parents to buy their products. We're not just selling our students. We're selling them incredibly cheap."
The Great Bunny
The Kellogg's' program is just one of numerous forays by corporations into the classroom. The education "industry" is being tagged by marketers as having a value of $630 billion (U.S.) for all of North America and $57 billion (U.S.) for Canada. Among those getting in on the action are Campbell's Soup, Gillette, Coca Cola and Proctor and Gamble. Each of these companies provide schools with programs and educational tools. Product placement is part and parcel of these educational efforts.
Cadbury Chocolate, for instance, has been working with schools to push the story of "Great Bunny". Almost 35% of the students under the age of nine have been exposed to this campaign. Cadbury supplies the schools with posters, copies of the story for each student and lesson plans for teachers.
One of the suggested ways of integrating this tale of the true meaning of Easter in the classroom was for the teacher to read the story out loud and then have students memorize lines. "Let's call this wondrous chocolate world/The Land of Cadbury/For `Cadbury' is a bunny word/For chocolate don't you see."
Not to be outdone, M&Ms has come forward with a math program. The teacher's kit advises the educator to first of all make sure they have bought enough packages of M&Ms for all the students. Then the teacher can use the chocolates to teach the principal of graphs (sorting the M&M's by colour). The graph even comes with its own slogan "melts in your mouth not on your graph."
Erika Shaker, is with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She has been tracking the growing "partnership" between corporations and Canadian schools. Shaker says that is has become difficult to keep track of all the initiatives because so many companies are getting in on the educational business.
"If you can pull back from this for a moment it's very interesting to look at the kind of techniques being used by these companies. But it's very hard to pull back because this is such an obvious abuse of the classroom. The marketing literature is quite open in describing classroom advertising as reaching a captive audience."
Shaker, in the booklet, Education Limited: Corporate Content Inside and Outside the Schools, points to the efforts to sell screen-savers on classroom computers to advertisers. According to ScreenAd, a company working the Ontario market, advertisers have the chance to "expose your brand identity to over 1.5 million students in Ontario's classrooms every 15 minutes of their school day."
The ScreenAd Mission statement includes the laudable goal of not letting advertising get in the way of the true meaning of education -- "To become a truly broad based advertising medium and not allow our ideals or those of the Institutions we support to become influenced in any way by our Corporate Clients."
Those clients, however, are encouraged to buy advertising because "you grow your consumers from childhood."

Who's Minding the Store
Given the proliferation of corporate-based education initiatives, one would think that education officials are working overtime to separate the crass from the constructive. Apparently not.
Gerri Connelly is with the Ministry of Education and Training in Ontario. She says the Ministry doesn't have any guidelines on the use of corporate materials. According to Connelly, this is the responsibility of school boards.
In the case of the Kellogg's campaign, Bill Parent, of the North East Catholic Board (covering Cobalt to Kapuskasing) , said that he hadn't heard of the program even though it was being used in area schools.
Parent says the decision about what corporate programs to adopt is a "function of the schools taking it on at a local level." He says the Board is, however, developing a policy to ensure that younger students do not take part in door-to-door fundraising.
Heather Jane Robertson says that the lack of protocol among School Boards and School Ministries regarding advertising in the classroom is common across Canada.
"Think of the size of the Education Act and the regulations that go with it. Add to it all the policy manuals of every school. I can't believe the lack of regulation (on classroom advertising) is an oversight. It's a purposeful decision that says `we'll duck the political consequences and download this to the level of the school.'"
When it comes to advertising programs, marketers simply by-pass the system and contact teachers and principle's directly.
Robertson says that poorer schools are particularly susceptible to this direct marketing approach.
"Poor schools are more inclined to hold their nose and get into sponsorships with companies because they need supplies. They feel desperate and so you get schools doing things like naming a classroom the `Pizza Hut' class."
Robertson says that she is concerned that Canadians aren't taking a stronger stand over the growing commodification of education.
"It's much bigger deal in the United States. The consumer's union has taken it on. Ralph Nadar has taken it on. Every national organization of principles, teachers and school boards have studied the issue and have taken very public stands in opposition to corporate curriculum. It's astounding that we have done nothing similar here."
She worries that Canadians are simply accepting the logic behind such advertising campaigns.
"I am concerned that we have become so brainwashed with the message that the market is synonymous with being alive that we don't even think there is anything wrong with blurring the difference between education and advertising."
In the case of the Kellogg's program, Jackie Nelson says she is very proud of the feedback the company has received. "We hope to renew the program (next year) because it is such a wonderful program."

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