December 27th, 2005
Advertisers Catch the School Bus
By Emily Bazar
USA Today
School districts desperate to plug budget holes are turning their buses into billboards for soft drinks, credit unions and car dealerships.
Advertisements have popped up on buses in Arizona and Massachusetts. New ones are set to appear in Michigan and Colorado.
Dozens more districts from Florida to Pennsylvania may join them.
“This will spread across the nation, because there’s so much money that will come into schools as a result of doing this,” says Daniel Shearer, director of transportation at the Scottsdale Unified School District.
The Arizona city just outside Phoenix began displaying ads on the sides of its buses last December. Advertisers include real estate agencies, a local toy store and an ambulance company. The district anticipates the ads will bring in $300,000 this year and up to $900,000 in a few years.
Children ‘for sale’?
But some consumer groups and parents are alarmed. They say America’s children — already bombarded by ads — shouldn’t become captive audiences on their way to and from school.
“It teaches children that ... they’re for sale,” says Gary Ruskin, executive director of the consumer group Commercial Alert. “They’re just a bunch of sardines packed in a bus being sold to an advertiser.”
Such arguments haven’t swayed many districts:
• The Agua Fria Union High School District in Arizona approved ads for the outside of its buses in September.
• The Cherry Creek School District in the Denver area expects ads to go up early next year and will use the money to buy digital cameras and a global positioning system to improve bus safety.
• Bus-length ads appeared on the outside of Medford buses in Massachusetts late last year. The school system charges advertisers about $5,000 a year per ad, Superintendent Roy Belson says.
• In Florida last year, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Palm Beach School District boards approved ads for the insides of their buses and are working out the details.
InSight Media of Pittsburgh is one of a handful of companies that specialize in school bus advertising. It is handling ads for schools in Ypsilanti, Mich., and pursuing contracts elsewhere in Michigan and with schools in the Pittsburgh area, says regional manager Shauli Zacks.
School districts that have jumped on the idea say they need the money.
“In Michigan, many of our school districts are struggling,” says Emma Jackson, spokeswoman for Ypsilanti Public Schools.
Jackson says Ypsilanti is the first in the state to sell bus advertisements. The first paid ads (for a local credit union) went up on Thursday. The 4,100-student district hopes to make $70,000 a year from bus ads, which will be placed above the inside windows, she says.
A way out of a ‘financial crisis’
Colorado Springs School District 11 may have been the first in the nation to advertise on its buses when it started 14 years ago, says spokeswoman Elaine Naleski. “District 11 was in what I would call a financial crisis,” she says. “They couldn’t pass a bond or any kind of tax increase.” Among the approximately 25 current advertisers are Coca-Cola and local pizza joints, she says.
Charlie Gauthier, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, says most districts didn’t rush to follow Colorado Springs for a variety of reasons, including regulations in some states prohibiting bus ads. Other districts, he says, feared they would get sued over the ad content.
Those educators who are now opting for bus ads say they’re mindful of the potential for harm.
Scottsdale takes ads only from for-profit entities to avoid potentially controversial ads on political or religious topics from non-profit organizations. The district has created a committee of school administrators and lawyers to approve all ads. Like other districts, Scottsdale won’t run ads for alcohol, tobacco, gambling or anything sexual.
And while some districts may consider accepting ads for fast food and sugary snacks, Scottsdale does not.
“We are staying away from food, especially fast food, because of the obesity problems in the schools,” Shearer says.
Critics argue that schools shouldn’t have to sell ads to raise money.
“We are opposed to using children for commercial purposes,” says Nancy Cox, president of the Florida PTA.
But Ypsilanti’s Jackson says students cannot be shielded from advertising, so why not display carefully screened ads that will benefit the district?
“You’d have to say you can’t drive a certain street because there’s a billboard that promotes an alcoholic beverage,” she says. “You’d have to strip the landscape of all advertising, whether it’s on the side of a truck or a billboard.”
Comments
- Posted by Edward Norton on December 28th, 2005
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Posted by Greg Luetkemeyer on December 28th, 2005
This is for the attention of Gary Ruskin. I watched you express your moronic, ill-informed, short-sighted, totally subjective views this morning on one of the morning news shows. If there is anything wrong with this great country, it is people like you that have nothing better to do with their life but disagree with, and take pot-shots at the people that are doing something that has a positive effect on issues of the day. I guess “pain-in-the-ass” people like you will always be there throwing obstacles in the road of people trying to do something constructive.
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Posted by Melinda Hemmelgarn on December 28th, 2005
I applaud Gary Ruskin for getting to the heart of the issue: school budets are hurting, as are those in cities, counties and states across our great nation. The question to ask here is “why?"Why on earth are we relying on advertisers to fund band uniforms, arts and sports programs?
For one, less flow from “big government.” Ruskin is right on when he identifies tax cuts for the wealthiest percentage of our country, while cutting federally funded food and education programs that benefit the the neediest, yet often voiceless, segment of our nation: children, the elderly, and disabled—including veterens.
We have to ask if we want to hand over control to corporations, with strings attached. Or if we want to maintain our independent democracy where the people are in power to choose what’s best for their children and communities.
I am a staunch proponet of media literacy education—to help children question and evaluate the marketing messages in which they increasingly swim. Let’s take soft drink machines in schools as a prime example. Schools get a paultry percentage while distributors rake in the more sizeable profits. John Alm, CEO of Coke said it best:in 2003: “The school system is where you build brand loyalty.”
I side with Ruskin, I send my children to get an education, not to get branded. What we should be doing is lobbying our representatives with a clearand persistent message: education must be adequately funded with federal and state tax dollars.
Advertisements in schools in the form of brand name soft drink machines or on school buses implies endorsement. Besides, in the words of nationally recognized child development expert, Leanne Birch (Penn State U.) , “familiarity breeds content.”
Please contine on your most worthwhile campaign, Gary Ruskin.Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S. , R.D.
Mediia Literacy Educator,
Food Sleuth columnist,
Food and Society Policy Fellow
foodsleuth@mchsi.com -
Posted by Richard Hawley on December 28th, 2005
The delusion for those who favor ads on school busses is that advertising is for free. Where the money is, that is where the strings are. For example, suppose that a school district is fighting to keep junk food out of the school to protect the health of kids, but ooops, they find that their biggest advertiser is a junk food company! To think they would not be influenced by the $ is simply naive. By paying for out of our own pocket what we value, we honor that. When we try to push the payment, time, effort, etc. off to some other entity, we dishonor it. I say bring back honor and deliver the message to our kids that we will do anything for their welfare.
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Posted by Shauli Zacks on December 28th, 2005
As the Regional Manager of InSight Media, I feel compelled to once again defend my company. I don’t know how other media companies work in regard to advertising on the buses, but we take extra care to make sure that we have the students’ best interest in mind.
The ads that we pursue aren’t ads for junk food and violent video games. We are looking for clean wholesome and educational ads.
We give every school district the final right of refusal. We ask that they set up a committee of 3-5 people and they go over every ad. Once we have their approval we print the ads.
We aren’t talking a small amount of money for the district either. They receive a significant percentage of the media dollars.
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Posted by Gwyn Wahlmann on December 28th, 2005
Shame on school districts and advertisers that stoop to such crass exploitation of children. Disgusting!
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Posted by Stephen on December 28th, 2005
Why not sell naming rights to the schools? That way they can join with the other wonderful places and events that are out there with corporate names. What kid wouldn’t want to have a diploma from Snapple Grammar School or Coke High School?
Ads on the outside of buses. Not a problem (keep the ads screened though). Ads in the bus? No way. -
Posted by Gretchen on December 29th, 2005
Fast food marketing dominates our communities. It is obviously found in our schools in the forms of General Mills box top collections (do they have anything that has nutritional value? Buy this junk - it will get money for your school. But the cost will be sacrificing your children’s healthy habits to get 5 cents per box top.) There are Pizza Hut and McDonalds coupons used as academic incentives, school fundraiser nights at fast food establishments, learn how to count using M&Ms, classroom treats given by teachers, junk in the cafteria. All of this starts in kindergarten. I fully support any action that will prevent junk food advertising from appearing on our buses and that works to get it out of our schools. Junk food is available everywhere. Get it out of our schools!
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Posted by on December 29th, 2005
In most state it’s illegal to place ads on the outside of the bus. They must stay totally yellow.
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Posted by Frank on December 29th, 2005
In many states it is against regulation to do anything to teh outside ofthe bus. It must remai yellow
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Posted by Gary K Boyes Sr. on December 29th, 2005
I don’t want to run anyone down, but this is a clear and present danger to any responsible adult. Any person that claims to be grown up and is not mentally “challenged” in some way can easily see that the distance between Advertising and Public schools should be maintained as an even wider gap than church and state. Sanctity is not intended or granted to commerce. It was intended for the public education system though, and granted it for a time. Now there is money to be made and “responsible” adults can no longer hold themselves in check in many ways. It’s not so much that those in favor think they’re doing the right thing as it is those in favor don’t think very well at all. Ads on vehicles that represent iconical establishments in our society are a degradation that all people of vision can easily see as the wrong path. Those that think small and flow like water were always destined to take the ride down willingly. We can’t help them. The coming generations need all our focus and attentions to counterract the affects of greed and ignorance even as the innapropriate lessons are paraded before them. Hurray for Gary Ruskin! We will all come to regret the first day that cash carried more weight than common sense. A defensive note from Insight media? This is a Company profiting from our Public School system by providing the service of distraction of attention. Glad they weighed in to point out how neat they are for targeting schools. Come on people… THINK.
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Posted by Shane H on January 2nd, 2006
I think that most of these people who criticize Gary Ruskin are in fact those who work in marketing companies and those who benefit greatly from PR campaigns that are now polluting school buses.
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Posted by Wayne on January 3rd, 2006
I guess the final thought may come down to “beat them or join them.” Kids are exposed to a lot more than a few ads every day on Nickolodian, Disney, even History Channel and Animal Planet! And every kid that uses the internet is bombarded relentlessly with advertising. Do they, their families, or their schools or communities derive any benefit from their exposure to those ads? Of course not. So, why not allow the bus ads (since the schools get SOME benefit from them) and go after all those other advertisers who crush them on TV, radio, internet, billboards, etc.etc.ect.! Anyone who opposes this type of advertising needs to ask themselves these questions; “what did I do today to ensure that my child’s school has everything it needs to improve the level of education it is pursuing?” Secondly; “am I willing to allow my local representatives raise my tax rates higher and higher each year, just to maintain the cost of current expenses in the schools?” Lastly; “if I cannot honestly answer the last two questions, am I being hypocritical?” I understand Mr. Ruskins’ arguement, but just saying that we need to write our congresspeople about not cutting programs in schools “aint gonna do it!” Maybe, Gary’s group can purchase some of the advertising space on the busses to promote their messages? I would be curious to know how much money Commercial Alert has given to schools to help them in their budget crunches. It is always easier to stand on the sideline and criticize how someone is doing, as opposed to offering some real ideas to solve everyday problems.
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Posted by Douglas Durrenberger on January 6th, 2006
Simply food for thought: it wasn’t too long ago that I was taking the bus to school. Instead of school buses, however, some students, myself included, were made to take the local city bus. THese buses regularly featured huge advertisements--I can remember Frito-Lay Chips beiing one. Well, the cumulative affect of this is that I did indeed feel like something to be sold, like I was an organ of the advertisement.
Perhaps if the action of advertising on school buses can’t be stopped, at least a few kids who otherwise might not think about advertising critically will be compelled to do so. -
Posted by Douglas Durrenberger on January 6th, 2006
Simply food for thought: it wasn’t too long ago that I was taking the bus to school. Instead of school buses, however, some students, myself included, were made to take the local city bus. THese buses regularly featured huge advertisements--I can remember Frito-Lay Chips beiing one. Well, the cumulative affect of this is that I did indeed feel like something to be sold, like I was an organ of the advertisement.
Perhaps if the action of advertising on school buses can’t be stopped, at least a few kids who otherwise might not think about advertising critically will be compelled to do so. -
Posted by Nikki on January 7th, 2006
In response to Wayne’s above comment...I’m not standing on the sidelines. I’m becoming a member of the advisory committee for Portland Public Schools on Health & Wellness policy development. I contribute financially to my son’s school. i also give my time in the form of numerous volunteer positions and hours monthly. So, at least I don’t fall precariously onto the dreaded sidelines that you mention. But, besides standing on my highhorse & saying “I’m not like the ones you critisize!” I also want to say that even though i do these things, there are also those in this organization who don’t and just because they hold to an ideal is no reason to devalue our position on the issue. To throw reason out the window because it isn’t solving the problems at hand is akin to tossing the preverbial baby out with the bathwater. Caving in to corporate greed and impoverished plight is no way to teach our children lessons, least of all to live our lives by. How low will YOU go, Wayne?
I guess if the school buses with the ads on them are selling our children then we have been doing this for years. Every vehicle you get into had a sticker from the dealership on it.
There is nothing wrong with this idea and personally I will pay to advertise our rental homes and units on.
The only thing that I see wrong with this idea is that I didn’t come up with it!