{"id":3947,"date":"2011-11-02T00:25:05","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T04:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/?p=3947"},"modified":"2016-11-16T20:20:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T01:20:32","slug":"is-necessity-the-mother-of-advertisements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/is-necessity-the-mother-of-advertisements\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Necessity the Mother of Advertisements?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to offset fiscal woes, Pennsylvania\u2019s Pennsbury School District recently contracted<\/a> to allow extensive advertising in its schools.\u00a0 The district issued a press release<\/a> in which it explained that:<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Pennsbury School Board contracted with the firm School Media, Inc. to sell advertising that will be placed on walls and lockers in our school interiors.\u00a0 This initiative was an outcome of the work of the Board Revenue Development Committee.\u00a0 Ads will be screened . . . to include only advertising that is deemed appropriate for the school environment.\u00a0 Over $400,000 in new revenues are anticipated from this initiative.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports<\/a> that the ads\u2014the district plans to install over 200\u2014will be located on the walls, floors, lockers, and cafeteria tables of Pennsbury\u2019s 16 primary, middle, and high schools.\u00a0 What injects subtlety into Pennsbury\u2019s story is the fact that the ads are not allowed to endorse products directly; rather, they must be connected with themes like health, safety, and learning.\u00a0 Some of the ads have a didactic message, endorsing reading and discouraging the playing of video games.\u00a0 Others, however, are less wholesome.\u00a0 According to the Inquirer, Pennsbury will install adverts for the Post-it brand, as well as for Dick\u2019s, the unfortunately named sporting goods chain.\u00a0 The Post-it ads will promote \u201corganization skills.\u201d\u00a0 Dick\u2019s will be informing youngsters about the dangers of concussions.<\/p>\n

Pennsbury\u2019s plan appears to be a desperate reaction to financial turmoil, and it exemplifies a nationwide shift<\/a> towards public schools\u2019 reliance on advertising revenues.\u00a0 The willingness of school districts to turn to advertising is not new, and Pennsbury\u2019s initiative is by no means the most striking.\u00a0 (In what may be a particularly tragicomic instance<\/a> of the American Kafkaesque, a teacher in a cash-strapped Idaho high school struck a deal with a local pizza shop whereby every worksheet he would distribute to his students would feature the words: \u201cMolto\u2019s Pizza 14\u201d 1 Topping Just $5.00.\u201d\u00a0 One can take comfort in the fact that $5.00 seems like a very reasonable price to pay for fourteen inches of pepperoni pie.)<\/p>\n

The most obvious problem with placing ads in schools is that the practice will augment the already remarkable influence that corporations have on how young people understand their place in the world.\u00a0 One needn\u2019t read the literature on consumer behavior to see that, in the long term, routine exposure to advertising can mold the very foundations of a child\u2019s thinking, transforming his understanding of what is and is not possible, and tailoring his conception of the meaning of a life well lived.\u00a0 There\u2019s also the equally palpable concern that, if even primary schools make a habit of turning to advertising, it\u2019s not clear whether any public institution can be expected to resist the practice.<\/p>\n

There are different ways to register the fact that Pennsbury\u2019s ads are allowed to endorse products only indirectly.\u00a0 One can contend that the ads\u2019 obliqueness is salutary, that their allusions to health and learning will negate any deleterious effects.\u00a0 But one can also take the view that there is something especially insidious about the fact that firms will be able to embed products and ideas in seemingly innocuous posters.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be more fair, the argument might go, if firms had to put all their cards on the table and promote their merchandise honestly, rather than being allowed to regale children with smoke and mirrors?\u00a0 Of course, there is also the position\u2014one hears it more frequently these days\u2014that the real villains in places like Pennsbury are the school administrators who, having mismanaged their schools into financial oblivion, are now trying to auction their way out of insolvency.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Political leanings will surely influence reactions to the story of Pennsbury.\u00a0 But the underlying questions will remain, and we will need to ask ourselves whether we are willing to accept a culture in which (for whatever reason) private firms peddle their wares in public schools.\u00a0 Part of the human dimension of Pennsbury\u2019s story stems from the fact that the school district\u2019s officials have been open about the unattractiveness of the advertising program.\u00a0 Said one member of the Pennsbury Board of School Directors: \u201cWe say, \u2018Show us another way, give us the funding some other way.\u2019\u00a0 We need the money desperately.\u201d\u00a0 Is this the voice of economic desolation?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to offset fiscal woes, Pennsylvania\u2019s Pennsbury School District recently contracted to allow extensive advertising in its schools. The ads\u2014the district plans to install over 200\u2014will be located on the walls, floors, lockers, and cafeteria tables of Pennsbury\u2019s 16 primary, middle, and high schools. 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