Google search for Brand Promotion in Schools
October 7, 2008 by Joe Fogarty
The Campaign for Commercial-Free Education has condemned Internet giant Google for their “Doodle for Google” promotion which seeks to make their corporate logo the focus of art lessons for school children as young as 5 years of age.
Teachers, who must register and submit all entries from the school, are offered a free laptop as a reward for bringing this scheme to their students. The winning pupil will see their Google logo appear on the website on St. Patrick’s Day 2009.
The company’s “lesson guides” for teachers state: “Write the word ‘Google’ on the board and show the pupils a print out of the logo template. Explain that Google helps us find information when we are using the computer” and “Identify all the letters and colours in the Google logo.“
Campaign for Commercial Free Education chairperson, Joseph Fogarty said, “This marketing scheme is in clear breach of the guidelines adopted by the Irish National Teachers Organisation. The CCFE utterly oppose it as an exploitative and brand-driven exercise and one which no school child should be exposed to.”
On Friday 26th September the Campaign for Commercial-Free Education and INTO conferred “Commercial-Free” status upon 13 primary schools at an awards ceremony in Dublin. Each of these schools has an established policy to filter out commercial marketing including branded lesson materials such as “Doodle for Google”.
