Commercialism in Schools:  The Need for School Policy

A  report from the General Accounting Office was released  September of 2000 entitled, "Commercial Activities in Schools"  This report was written on the behalf of lawmakers concerned over the ever increasing school/corporate relationships.  It is important as an educator to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of advertising in and around the classroom.  Mark Foley outlines some of the major disadvantages and problematic situations involved with commercialism in schools in  Computers in schools: What's the motive.  Here we will take a look at what are the ways in which companies seek to gain entry into the schools and the need for school districts and teachers to educate themselves as well as their students about the commercialism.  There is a tremendous lack of written policy by schools districts governing the use of advertising in schools especially when it involves sponsorship of programs, incentive programs, and electronic marketing.  The GAO's report outlines the increase of commercial activity by stating that “Commercial activities in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools have been growing in visibility throughout the last decade, a period characterized by tightened school budgets. As visibility has increased, so have concerns about commercial activities that generate cash, equipment, or other types of assistance and their potential effects on students learning and purchasing behavior.”(2000).  Alex Molnar at  The Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University published the fourth annual report on school commercialism finding that in the year 2000, media coverage of commercializing activity declined—for the first time in 10 years. Molnar and Reaves maintain that this is evidence of an "increasing normalization and acceptance of commercialization in virtually every area of life" (2001).  The General Accounting Office goes on to define commercial activities as (1) the sale of products, (2) direct advertising for example, advertisements in school corridors or on school buildings, (3) indirect advertising for example, corporate-sponsored educational materials or teacher training, and (4) market research. Despite the increasing concerns, little is known about the laws and policies that govern commercial activities and the nature of these activities in schools throughout the United States.  

It is important for educators and policy makers to be aware of the types of commercialism in schools.  With little known about the laws and policies it is valuable to become aware of the types of commercialism schools are facing.  Once school districts, teachers, and parents become knowledgeable about commercialism they can then begin to formulate policies that will govern their schools decision making about working with corporations. 

The Commercialism in Education Research Unit keep tracks of  eight categories of school commercialism.  The eight categories of school commercialism tracked  by CERU are:

1) Sponsorship of Programs and Activities. Corporations paying for or subsidizing school events and/or one-time activities in return for the right to associate their name with the events and activities. This also may include school contests.

2) Exclusive Agreements. Agreements between schools and corporations that give corporations the exclusive right to sell and promote their goods and/or services in the school or school district. In return the district or school receives a percentage of the profits derived from the arrangement. Exclusive agreements may also entail granting a corporation the right to be the sole supplier of a product or service and thus associate its products with activities such as high school basketball programs.

3) Incentive Programs. Corporate programs that provide awards, goods, or services to a school or school district when its students, parents, or staff engage in a specified activity or demonstrate particular behaviors. The scope of this category's definition was reduced in this year's report because revenue-generating programs such as Campbell's Labels for Education are now included in the new fundraising category.

4) Appropriation of Space. The allocation of school space such as scoreboards, rooftops, bulletin boards, walls, and textbooks on which corporations may place corporate logos and/or advertising messages.

5) Sponsored Educational Materials. Materials supplied by corporations and/or trade associations that claim to have an instructional content.

6) Electronic Marketing. The provision of electronic programming and/or equipment in return for the right to advertise to students and/or their families and community members in school or when they contact the school or district.

7) Privatization. Management of schools or school programs by private for-profit corporations or other non-public entities.

8) Fundraising. The fundraising category incorporates some elements formerly included in the Incentive Programs category, as described above, such as collecting particular product labels or cash register receipts from particular stores. Any activity conducted or program participated in to raise money for school operations or extracurricular programs is considered fundraising. (2001). 

Alex Molnar and Joseph Reaves in Buy me! Buy me! The 4ht annual report on schoolhouse commercialism argue that the concerns over commercial influences in schools are even more urgent today, given the phenomenal rise in school-based commercial activities over the last decade. Since 1990, for example Molnar and Reaves report that press citations of sponsored educational materials increased by 1,875 percent, citations of exclusive contracts between schools and corporations increased 1,384 percent, and citations of privatization increased 3,206 percent (2001).  According to Molnar, corporate involvement in schools has interfered with the ability of schools to provide a sound education, promote the best interests of children, and foster "democratic civic values." Children in schools, he argues, are increasingly being approached as consumers rather than as learners and citizens. He cites, for example, ads and products that encourage kids to consume junk food and sodas, market research that exploits students and invades their privacy, and lack of public accountability on the part of education-management organizations (2001).  Because of the reported increases in advertising in schools there is a need for schools districts and teachers to develop policies regarding use of advertising, incentive programs, exclusive contracts, space, sponsorship, and electronic marketing.  

The GAO report also highlights the need for such policies.  The GAO report analyzed commercialism laws in all 50 states and in seven school districts in California, Michigan and New Mexico.  The GAO found that policies are uneven and inadequate.  According to the GAO, "laws and regulations governing commercial activities in public schools are not comprehensive and sometimes lacked formal guidance."  The GAO reported that only "19 states currently have statutes or regulations that address school-related commercial activities."  Further, state policies are often limited in scope and vary widely.  For example, Michigan laws do not address commercial activities at all, while New Mexico's only law on the subject expressly permits advertising in and on school buses.  In contrast, GAO found that five states - California, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Maine - had comprehensive policies, meaning they authorized or restricted three or more types of commercial activities.  New York law generally prohibits commercial activities on school premises and California law requires school boards to conduct open public hearings before approving many types of commercial contracts.  Laws in Florida, and Maine expressly permit districts or superintendents to enter into various commercial agreements.  The GAO found that local policies also varied widely, leading many decisions to be made on an ad hoc basis.  In addition, the GAO raised concerns that school district policies have not yet adapted to changes in commercial technologies, noting that "none are targeted towards newer forms of media-based advertising, such as those delivered by Channel One and ZapMe!"  As a result of the GAO report there has been a push for legislation  for a uniform policy on commercialism in public schools.  The report also notes that specific activities often get designated controversial or noncontroversial according to the values and preferences (including brand preferences) of school officials and parents "rather than the nature of the activity itself." A wide range of policies and levels of commercial activities therefore exist among and even within districts. 

The range of school district policies on commercialism range from having no policies, to having policies that need strengthening and some school boards may have policies that officially allow commercialism.  The Milwaukee Principles for Corporate Involvement  in Schools states that “School-business relationships based on sound principles and community input can contribute to high quality education. However, compulsory attendance confers on educators an obligation to protect the welfare of their students and the integrity of the learning environment. Therefore, when working together, schools and businesses must ensure that educational values are not distorted in the process. Positive school-business relationships should be ethical and structured in accordance with the following principles” (1990).  Many versions of this set of principles have been used by several different sources.  And seem to be used in many variations by school districts that have developed policies regarding commercialism in schools. 

• Corporate involvement shall not require students to observe, listen to, or read commercial advertising.
• Selling or providing access to a captive audience in the classroom for commercial purposes is a violation of the public trust.
• Since school personnel, property and time are publicly funded, selling or providing access to advertising on school property outside the classroom involves ethical and legal issues that must be addressed.
• Corporate involvement must support the goals and objectives of the schools.  Curriculum and instruction are within the purview of educators, with the involvement of the community.
• Programs of corporate involvement must be structured to meet identified educational needs, not commercial motives, and must be evaluated for educational effectiveness by the school district on an ongoing basis.
• Schools and educators should hold sponsored and donated materials to the same standards used for the selection and purchase of curriculum materials.
• Corporate involvement programs should not limit the discretion of schools and teachers in the use of sponsored materials.
• Sponsor recognition and corporate logos should be for identification rather than commercial purposes.
• Any attempt to establish programs of corporate involvement must involve full public disclosure and provide ample opportunity for community input in the initial stages of negotiation, well before a deal is finalized.

Nancy Willard in  Capturing the Eyeballs and "E-Wallets" of Kids in School: Dot.com Invades Dot.edu also points out the need for schools and teachers to recognize what businesses are doing in schools and the need for formal policies.  Willard is concerned with the use of collecting information from students while using computers.  She points out that in exchange for technology resources, a growing number of schools are allowing businesses to collect personal information from students through online profiling and to expose students to the targeted marketing enabled by banner ads (2000).  According to Willard, schools are participating in these exchanges without adequate assessment of their educational value, impact on students, or ethical implications. Unethical classroom activities may require students to disclose personal information to be used for marketing purposes, allow students' online behavior to be tracked without their knowledge, or permit this personal information to be distributed to other online businesses without the knowledge or consent of either students or their parents.   Willard notes, "If teachers are selecting sites for student research, the sites should first be analyzed for the quality, appropriateness, and suitability of the educational materials present on the site” (2000).

She recommends a set of principles for a school policy on commercialism on the Internet and identifies questions teachers should ask when considering the use of a particular website with students. These questions include:

• What information will be collected directly or indirectly from students as they use the site?
• What is the purpose of the collection of information?
• What security provisions have been established to ensure the confidentiality of students' personal information?
• Does the site have any banner ads? If so, what is the relationship of the collection of data to the presence of banner advertising?

The Consumers Union also believes that commercialism in U.S. elementary and secondary schools poses a significant and growing threat to the integrity of education in America. They report to see a disturbing trend in commercialism in schools such as: Teachers using educational materials and programs in classrooms that are produced by commercial interests and contain biased, self-serving, and promotional information.  Pressure on school administrators, teachers, and students to form partnerships with business that turn students into a captive audience for commercial messages, often in exchange for some needed resource (1998).  The Consumers Union sees a number of forces that are converging that put pressure on teachers and administrators to accept ads and other promotional materials in school.  They are chronic school budgetary problems, the ever-growing presence of commercialism in all sectors of society, and the growing competition among corporations for the youth market (1998). 

The Consumers Union Education Service is advocating that action be taken by all the stakeholders including the corporate sector, education community, parents, and government.  In their report, Captive Kids: A Report on Commercial Pressures on Kids at School, they outline the steps each should take to take to curb the commercial pressures on students in school. 

The corporate sector, including industry associations and other special interest groups, should: 

• Acknowledge and respect that schools are not a marketplace for products, corporate images, or self-serving viewpoints, and declare that all forms of advertising in classrooms, from couponing and sampling to commercial SEMs and contests, are inappropriate and not an acceptable way of marketing to kids.
• Recognize that schools are under-financed and can benefit from the financial and other resources of the business community; and assist schools with programs whose objectives are empowering and educating youth, not selling to them.
• Publicly support proper funding of schools to eliminate their reliance on corporate sponsorship and advertising revenues.

The education community should: 

• Support the idea that schools should be ad-free zones, and that classrooms should not be purveyors of commercial messages or influences.
• Adopt SOCAP or IOCU guidelines, and require sponsored programs and materials to undergo the same review procedures and meet the same standards as other curriculum materials.
• Reject the idea that allowing advertising in the school is an ethical way to acquire materials or finance education. Identify and pursue noncommercial partnerships with business.
• Educate children about the nature of propaganda and commercial messages by teaching consumer and media literacy, helping kids to analyze ads, demythologize products, evaluate sources of information, and clarify alternatives in the marketplace. This should begin in the elementary grades.

Parents should: 

• Support the adoption and enforcement of SOCAP or IOCU guidelines to keep commercial sponsored programs out of the classroom.
• Teach children to evaluate commercial content in all of the materials they receive, including those in the schools. Regularly discuss purchasing and money-management decisions with children, and analyze advertising with them.
• Address the larger problem of the underfunding of our schools.

 Government should: 

• Ensure proper funding of schools to diminish their reliance on corporate sponsorship and advertising revenues.
• Eliminate tax benefits for corporate contributions to schools that carry a commercial message.
• Insist that corporations pay their fair share of school funding.

The National PTA propose the following questions when evaluating a school-business partnership in their report on corporate involvement in schools.   

• Does the school-business partnership require students to watch/read advertisements in order to use materials/equipment?
• Does the school-business partnership stress the marketing and/or promotion of products with students?
• Does the school-business partnership require or entice students to purchase a commercial product or require teachers, students and parents to promote a commercial products?
• Does the school-business partnership promote the development of student learning, skills, interest or participation in school activities?
• Is the program open to all students who can appropriately participate, without being capped or limited in a manner that discriminates against any student or group of students?
• Does the proposed business partner market products that are detrimental to the health and well-being of students?
• Prior to acceptance, information describing and explaining the source of all contributions and donations should be reported to the public by schools and school districts.

Future Trends

Recently has media have focused less attention on commercial activities as corporate-sponsored programs and electronic marketing in the schools but more attention on privatization and appropriation of school space.  Alex Molnar thinks their may be two possible explanations for these trends.  One is growing resistance to school commercialism is beginning to take effect. Another possible explanation is that schools are becoming so highly commercialized that corporate encroachments may no longer be news.  Perhaps the trends reflect a little of both: inroads by opponents of commercialism and an acceptance of commercialism as the norm.  In either case there is a clear need for teachers, parents, and schools to create policies which will benefit the students who are facing a great deal of commercial pressures in school. 

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