NEPC hail Irish Teachers’ Opposition to Advertising in Schools.
An international report on in-school marketing has praised the stance taken by the INTO and individual primary schools towards token collection which led to the abolition of token quotas in the January 2010 Building for the Future promotion.
“Effectively Embedded – schools and the machinery of modern marketing” is the 13th Annual Report from the National Education Policy Centre based in Arizona State University. The authors highlight how the commercial stipulation of 20 tokens per student from Independent Newspapers was successfully opposed by the INTO who described the demand as “a new low in trying to target school children for commercial gain”.
However, the report also highlights the ongoing commercial presence in Irish schools of companies such as Tesco, who seek promotion to children and sales of €299,000 in return for a “FREE” laptop, and Allied Irish Bank whose Build a Bank Challenge recruits teenage students to promote its accounts through peer-to-peer marketing using social networking websites and organizing in-school events.
To read the full report visit http://nepc.colorado.edu/publications.
2010 The CCFE Year in Review.
ccfe-review-of-commercial-schemes-09-10
The CCFE review of commercial activity in Irish schools during the school year 2009 – 2010 demonstrates how deeply embedded into school life are commercial promotions and how even the highest profile marketing scheme may be derailed by educators who simply refuse to cooperate.
Read our review of the major promotions and developments in Irish schools by clicking the above link (File is in PDF format).
INTO Calls for an End to Commercial Exploitation of School Children
The INTO has said primary teachers should not support advertising projects by commercial companies which target children or their families through schools. The union made its announcement following the launch of a project promoted by the Irish Independent and sponsored by Bank of Ireland.
“Bank of Ireland is one of the financial institutions that contributed to this country’s economic collapse,” said Ms Ní Chuinneagáin. “It has been bailed out to date with 3.5 billion in state aid so far with more taxpayers money expected to be pumped into it. Just today, it is set to get 11.5 billion of taxpayers money through the NAMA scheme to pay for its reckless lending to developers and speculators.” Read the story »
AIB’s “Build a Bailed-Out Bank Challenge”
Unabashed by its toxic debts, beleaguered shareholders and allegations of gross mismanagement, AIB persists in approaching Irish secondary schools to teach students “money-management” and “key business skills”.
