Kids, schools and advertising — three great tastes that don’t taste great together.
- In Florida, the Seminole County Public Schools have been running what they call “the report card incentive” with local purveyors of fast-food. In return for the $1,600 cost of printing the report cards, the eateries get a full page ad that goes to & fro from home three times a year. This year’s sponsor is McDonald’s. For the previous decade it was Pizza Hut. Given that the feces has just hit the fan over this I’d say the businesses got a pretty good ROI. I’d say the kids got a pretty lousy ROI, though.
- Then there’s this wonderful press release: “In a nutshell, MilkMedia, through their partner dairies, has the ability to promote musical artists/entertainment figures on up to 24 million branded cartons of milk per day sold in schools (see carton mock-up below). That is the sum total of milk sold daily in more than 90,000 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide (a clearance of approximately 95% of all US schools). Additionally, Milk Rocks! Is able to place posters in lunchrooms in 20,000 middle and high schools across the country. Combined, these two outlets deliver billions of impressions in a venue that previously has been difficult, if not impossible to reach. Additionally, Milk Rocks!, with the blessing of schools, delivers to students, branded book covers and other fun, kid-friendly materials.“
While the entire thing makes me want to swear off bovine secretions forever, the best line has to be: “Milk Rocks!, with the blessing of schools, delivers to students, branded book covers and other fun, kid-friendly materials.”
- Giving blessings isn’t the business of schools.
- What definition of “kid-friendly” includes advertising?
Collateral Damage 