teach1st
08-11-2005, 05:06 AM
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12352959.htm
(Opinion)
The word ''sellout'' is sooooooo last millennium.
Maybe, back in 1990, the notion of school buses festooned with commercial messages would have set off screams of protest. Such outrage, in 2005, has eroded to not much more than a burp of indifference.
The Broward School District, keeping up with Miami-Dade and Palm Beach public schools, is weighing its financial needs against the untapped commercial potential of so many pupils stuck, twice a day, on 1,300 school buses.
That's a captive audience of 85,000 consumers in an attractive demographic. Marketers know that with a clever ad campaign, kids can be coverted into shopping zealots.
Hey, children have been known to gun down other children to snatch a desirable logo for their wardrobe. You just don't get that kind of a brand loyalty from riders of the Century Village jitney.
Marketers say Palm Beach and Miami-Dade schools stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The Herald reported Wednesday that Broward Schools were weighing a similar proposal. A few years ago, that would have set off a firestorm. Herald schools reporter Hannah Sampson said Wednesday evening she had yet to receive an e-mail from an upset reader.
Our standards have loosened since 1990, when Channel One invaded the nation's classrooms. The private company installed television and satellite equipment in schools and piped educational programming into classrooms. For free. Except that for every 12 minutes of programming, Channel One added two minutes of advertising.
Channel One caught hell from educators and parents and politicians and editorial writers all anxious to keep schools commercial free. But the reality of school financing has now trumped high-minded ideals. Taxpayers prefer to teach kids on the cheap. And if corporate advertising allows them to get away with paying even less, who cares? Last year, Channel One pumped $40 million worth of commercials into 370,000 classrooms.
Read more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12352959.htm)
(Opinion)
The word ''sellout'' is sooooooo last millennium.
Maybe, back in 1990, the notion of school buses festooned with commercial messages would have set off screams of protest. Such outrage, in 2005, has eroded to not much more than a burp of indifference.
The Broward School District, keeping up with Miami-Dade and Palm Beach public schools, is weighing its financial needs against the untapped commercial potential of so many pupils stuck, twice a day, on 1,300 school buses.
That's a captive audience of 85,000 consumers in an attractive demographic. Marketers know that with a clever ad campaign, kids can be coverted into shopping zealots.
Hey, children have been known to gun down other children to snatch a desirable logo for their wardrobe. You just don't get that kind of a brand loyalty from riders of the Century Village jitney.
Marketers say Palm Beach and Miami-Dade schools stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The Herald reported Wednesday that Broward Schools were weighing a similar proposal. A few years ago, that would have set off a firestorm. Herald schools reporter Hannah Sampson said Wednesday evening she had yet to receive an e-mail from an upset reader.
Our standards have loosened since 1990, when Channel One invaded the nation's classrooms. The private company installed television and satellite equipment in schools and piped educational programming into classrooms. For free. Except that for every 12 minutes of programming, Channel One added two minutes of advertising.
Channel One caught hell from educators and parents and politicians and editorial writers all anxious to keep schools commercial free. But the reality of school financing has now trumped high-minded ideals. Taxpayers prefer to teach kids on the cheap. And if corporate advertising allows them to get away with paying even less, who cares? Last year, Channel One pumped $40 million worth of commercials into 370,000 classrooms.
Read more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12352959.htm)