NEWS RELEASE
For More Information Contact: Robert Weissman and Elizabeth Ben-Ishai (503) 235-8012
For Immediate Release: November 14th, 2011

Reject Dept. of Education’s School Advertising Plans, Commercial Alert tells Hawaii School Board

Today, Public Citizen’s Commercial Alert sent a letter to the Chairman of the State of Hawaii Board of Education, Donald Horner, asking the Board to reject the Department of Education’s proposed amendment to the its Commercialism Policy. The amendment would allow for significantly increased commercial advertising in schools and libraries.  Commercial Alert is a project of Public Citizen, a consumer protection organization based in Washington, D.C., with more than 225,000 members and supporter.

The text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr. Horner,

Commercial Alert is a project of Public Citizen, a consumer protection organization based in Washington, D.C., with more than 225,000 members and supporters. We aim to keep commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy.

We write to urge the State of Hawaii Board of Education to reject the Department of Education’s proposed amendment to the its Commercialism Policy, which would allow for significantly increased commercial advertising in schools and libraries. We understand that the financial pressures your school district currently faces make you eager to identify non-traditional sources of funding. We know your primary concern is to avoid shortchanging students as a result of budget cuts. However, subjecting children to even greater amounts of advertising is the wrong response. It will raise little revenue while undermining the Hawaii public schools’ educational and child development mission. Educational institutions should promote civic virtue and the public good, not commercial values.

As you know, childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for young pupils to develop their identities. Corporations exploit these developmental challenges, and convey through sophisticated marketing strategies that children should build their identities and judge their peers based on what they have, rather than on who they are. In the process, children end up with a damaged sense of self, superficial worldview, and a diminished sense of social responsibility. There is no need to overstate the case; certainly, many children navigate the world of hyper-marketing successfully. But it is nonetheless a negative influence – one that schools, of all places, should not be promoting. Children are already surrounded by near-constant advertising that promotes consumerism and commercial values. But the ubiquity of advertising is not a reason for allowing in-school advertising – it is a reason why children need a sanctuary from a world where everything seems to be for sale.

Superintendent Matayoshi recently stated in her memo to the Board, “There is already an abundance of corporate names and logos on campuses on reams of paper, computers, pencils, vehicles, etc. and on clothing and footwear worn by students and adults alike.” While this may be true, it is an argument for less, not more, advertising. Advertising on school property itself pushes the presence of commercial influences to a new level. By permitting corporations to purchase advertising space within schools, the board implicitly endorses the advertisers’ products. Some advocates of school advertising believe that setting appropriate guidelines for these practices can curb potential harms. The proposed amendment to the Hawaii School Board’s Commercialism Policy offers such guidelines. However, though the amendment calls for advertising that “promotes positive behavior, educational activities, health and wellness, co-curricular activities, physical activities, and athletic events,” these categories can easily be interpreted in a broad manner that would allow for marketing of products that are detrimental to students. Corporations that sell harmful products to children will be among those most interested in targeting them by pursuing advertising opportunities in schools. 

But it is not only the presence of corporations selling unhealthy or morally questionable products in schools that raises concerns. Even if the Board were to offer clearer and more specific guidelines, corporate advertisers advance values inconsonant with those schools stand for. Education should empower students to think critically and independently. Students should be encouraged to form their own beliefs, to question established ideas, and to develop intellectual curiosity. Marketing and advertising contravene these goals. Commercialism teaches students that everything has a price. In-school advertising and marketing schemes convey market rather than civic values and impede the ability of schools to function as open spaces where ideas are freely exchanged and the next generation of public-minded, conscientious, and virtuous students can grow.

Weighted against the real harms of school commercialism, the financial benefits of such a scheme are minuscule. School advertising programs rarely bring in significant funds, and the small revenues often barely offset the administrative cost and burden of putting them in place.
We urge you to reject the proposed amendment to the Board’s Commercialism Policy, as well as any other attempts to infuse Hawaii schools and libraries with commercial advertising. We look forward to your response, and would be pleased to discuss these matters with you further.

Sincerely,

Robert Weissman
President
Public Citizen

Elizabeth Ben-Ishai
Campaign Coordinator
Public Citizen’s Commercial Alert