Of particular concern are agreements with soda vendors, which have come under withering criticism from health advocates trying to combat obesity among American children and teenagers. Commercialism was allowed to proliferate as long as nobody knew about it. Now more and more people are either objecting to commercialism in schools or fighting to keep it. Though ads have long been present in U.S. schools, a report by the General Accounting Office last fall found commercial activity in schools is a growth industry, with campaigns becoming more visible as school budgets become tighter. The commercial presence surfaces in several ways.
Companies sell products such as food and beverages in schools.
They buy ads on scoreboards, buses and on Channel One, a television news service broadcast to 8 million students in 12,000 schools in 48 states. Because its 12-minute broadcast includes ads, the program, launched in 1990, has been controversial. In New York, Channel One is not allowed in schools despite several attempts to repeal the ban. Industries also promote their agendas indirectly through classroom materials designed to portray their company in the best light. Timber companies explain the benefits of clear-cutting, for example, and Exxon produces materials offering its version of the environmental fallout from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.