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You know what’s wrong with kids today?
They’re just not getting enough advertising in their lives,
that’s what. Take school. Sure, there are ads in the hallways, on
classroom televisions, and even in some of the textbooks. But, I ask you,
what about school buses? Yeah, I know that there are ads on the outside of
many buses — but, hey, the kids are on the inside, and they’re
just goofing off as they ride to school in the morning and as they return
home after school. That’s a prime advertising opportunity going to
waste. Not for long, though. Two professional ad hucksters
have had a brainstorm that they hope will blow more ads into the developing
minds of our schoolkids. They call it BusRadio, and their dream is to pipe
an hour-long program — including eight minutes of advertising —
into the buses, which, they say, will be “a unique and effective way
to reach the highly sought after teen and tween market.”
Yeah, get ’em while they’re captives in a
bus and can’t get away from rank commercialism! Well, say BusRadio promoters, our motive is not merely
to make money but also to provide a social service. They claim that
BusRadio can be a behavioral nanny, that students are more likely to be
quieter and follow the rules while the radio is on. However, as one
watchdog group notes, we also could keep the kids quiet “if we gave
them cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean we should.”
This isn’t about providing a service; it’s
about using our educational system to compel children to absorb commercial
messages. Yet BusRadio is planning to go national next year. It hopes to
reach a million students, some as young as 5. To help bring this runaway
bus to a stop, call Commercial Alert: 503-235-8012.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator,
columnist, and author.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2007.
