Captive Audience: Advertising Invades the Classroom

http://www.mediaed.org

For marketers who wish to reach the lucrative youth market, the relatively uncluttered medium of the school environment represents the final frontier � access to a captive audience of millions of students. Meanwhile dwindling federal, state, and local funding for education has left many schools vulnerable to the advertiser�s pitch. As a result, commercialism has steadily increased in America�s public schools in recent years, often with little or no public awareness.

Captive Audience examines this growing phenomenon through numerous examples of in-school advertising; interviews with teachers, students, parents, and activists; and a case study of community action to oppose an exclusive soda contract in the Pittsburgh school district. Media scholars and critics � including Alex Molnar, Professor of Education Policy, Arizona State University; Henry Giroux, Professor in Secondary Education, Pennsylvania State University; No Logo author Naomi Klein; and Bill Hoynes, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Vassar College � offer a broad look at the issues at stake.

Captive Audience is a compelling expos� of the transformation of classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, and textbooks into advertising vehicles. It explores how education is short-changed and democracy is at risk when schools become marketplaces and commercialism goes to the head of the class.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• MEF
• Media
• Education
• Literacy
• Critical
• Mass
• Industry
• Educational
• Sut
• Jhally
• Public
• School
• Commercialism
• Consumerism
• Ads

[ed4wb]

I disagree. As a teacher, I think we have an obligation to keep adv. out of schools even if it means being underfunded. It's about priorities. The USA has the money to fund schools. As a nation, we'd rather fund our military, Wall St., and Corp Interests (thanks Congress). By caving in, we are ultimately selling kids' futures so that Corps. can profit. Selling kids' health (sugary drinks, candy and materialism) isn't worth having "some supplies".

[IheartLatinoMen]

marketing to children is horrible, they even use children to sell cars!.. anything imaginable can be sold from a child's influence

[tehcommenterofepic]

@EricNyhmfan Theres something called "qsp" google it, it gives crappy prizes to children who sell overpriced magazine subscriptions to their parents and a *tiny* percent goes to the school.

[AltairEgo1]

@iamalwaysontherun

Indeed.

Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

[iamalwaysontherun]

@AltairEgo1 lol.

[AltairEgo1]

Next, let's have advertisement in textbooks.

"This history lesson brought to you by Carl's Junior."

[cherubicnerd]

my god! a domino's pizza ad on the hall wall!

[EricNyhmfan]

Good thing they didn't do this to schools in Canada yet, no vending machine, no corp ads/logos, closest thing is the poster equivelant of PSAs. Is the U.S. the only country that is being taken over like that, besides their attempts at raising the "3rd world" in their image.

[Thelaofkazi]

@7jessicasamaan

Cont. again:

But my point is, the control corporations have over our lives has gotten to the point where they are a plague on us and our government, and advertising is just one of the ways they influence and control us. It's not as simple as "people will buy what they want, regardless," saying that is ignoring many of the psychological findings on advertising and it's effects.

[Thelaofkazi]

@7jessicasamaan

Cont.

Corporations have firm control over many aspects of our lives and our government, they create many problems for us. Look at how clothing companies use sweatshop and child labor, how the food industry causes many help problems, and many of them lobby heavily to control our government, which undermines democracy. I don't really have enough room to explain it all, the information is out there, it's not that difficult to find.

[Thelaofkazi]

@7jessicasamaan

There have been numerous psychological studies conducted that show how easily conditioned a child or teen can be to identify with a specific brand or product. Do some research.

Many of the foods and drinks that are advertised are unhealthy and cause even more harm then drugs (take a look at our obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease rates, these are some of the leading causes of death for Americans, and these products contribute to these issues).