Commentary by Larry Lannan
We are all bombarded with advertising messages wherever we go. Technology has had a hand in this.
Most popular web sites are packed with ad messages. I was in a Washington DC taxi and there was a small screen in the back seat with a constant loop of video marketing messages.
The ad agencies are always looking for new eyes and ears to receive their clients’ messages. There is a new marketing campaign that will soon begin in Fishers.
The Hamilton Southeastern Schools will install charging stations for students to plug-in their electronic equipment, such as cell phones. The school system will sell ad space through a contractor at these charging stations.
The ad revenue will pay for a new social media marketing campaign, allowing the school corporation to better-explain its views on issues, such as a school referendum and why they are now necessary with the state’s method of school funding. The program will also feature individual staff members at HSE schools working on important programs.
I may be a bit old fashioned, but it troubles me that the school system must expose our local students to even more marketing messages than they are receiving now. HSE students, particularly at the high school and junior high levels, are prime targets for ad campaigns.
Most studies show we all form our brand loyalties at a very young age. If you acquire a preference for one cola drink over another in your formative years, you are much more likely to stay with that cola brand as you emerge into adulthood.
That’s what bothers me about the school system being forced to use advertising to fund their social media marketing campaign. I want to be very clear on one point. I do not blame the local school system
It is my view the school system should be able to find the money within its own budget to finance a social media campaign if that’s the decision of our local school board. However, with the school corporation in the process of finding 5% savings in the budget over the next two school years, there is no money to fund such a program.
So students will get bombarded with yet more ad campaigns, this time within their school building. If the Indiana lawmakers funded our public schools adequately, there would be no need for marketing campaigns in the schools.
