What Types of Commercial Activities Are Taking Place in Schools?
The GAO (Shaul 2000) identified four types of commercial activities in schools: • Product sales (for example, exclusive contracts for soft drinks) approach students as immediate on-site consumers and as future consumers. • Direct advertising (such as posters in corridors) approaches students as off-site consumers, future consumers, and consumer influencers, for example, influencing the purchasing decisions of parents and friends. • Indirect advertising (for example, educational materials sponsored by a corporation or trade association) approaches students as off-site consumers and future consumers. • Market research (taste tests, online profiling) approaches students as representative consumers, that is, consumers whose preferences have demographic significance for marketers. Businesses often engage in two or more types of commercial activities in schools. For example, product sales such as exclusive vending contracts with soft-drink bottlers may be accompanied by the display of a corp
