Masterman is arguably Great Britain's most influential scholar and practitioner of media literacy. During a 1994 visit with our ML colleagues in Canada, he spoke at length on media literacy's future. Masterman has recently been studying the twin phenomena of corporate sponsorship and public relations, forms of marketing and public opinion management that are more subtle and hidden than outright advertising. That makes it difficult for media educators to identify the phenomenon as a subject for critical inquiry. Most people, certainly most kids, think of sponsorship as a form of charity, as an act of corporate generosity.
Sponsorship is the worst possible mechanism for distributing resources in any culture or society.
It gives the most to those who need it least. . . . If you're a theater group, it's better to be the Royal Shakespeare Co. than a 'fringe' theater group. If you're an artist, be David Hockney and not someone starving in a garret. Sportsmen, who are already multi-millionaires, can make hundreds of thousands of dollars with a single putt, or by winning a tennis match, whilst, in the U.K. for example, children's playing fields are being sold off at an unprecedented rate, and decent sporting facilities at a community level are difficult to find, particularly where they are most needed. But the problem runs deeper.