Corporate kickbacks to Gov. over school system abuse?

When I was little my school had Checkers come in and you could buy food from their booth. My kids are in school now and they have "McTeacher Nights" hosted by McDonalds and have already had an Otis Spunkmeyer fundraiser. Now for all the noise about the obesity epidemic you would think they wouldn't allow this. If I ran a food business and asked kids to sell my food and gave them money it would be a gross violation of the child labor laws but because they're "fundraising" and get cheap pencils or other trinkets it's completely legal. Pizza Hut using the Book-It! program to manipulate parents to going to their restaurant and print outs my kids have to color talking about the places they eat that includes all of the major fast food joints in the US. How much money do you think the Government is getting from this? Restaurants get a good profit and image while the government doesn't have to "waste" their money on our kids. I really don't see any outrage from parents about this and that frightens me. How is this legal?

this is a valuable lesson on the topic of entrepreneurship, advertisement strategies, and cost reduction/saving. this is also a valuable lesson on the topic of exploitation. bring it up at city council or PTA meetings, not ATS. all we're going so say is bad bad bad bad while your kids continue to get fat fat fat fat

I apologize for it not being about Aliens or Obama secretly having meetings with Satan but I'm really looking for others who have dealt with such things before I go running my mouth off and making enemies in the school system. I've already been a trouble maker at last place we lived for going after the superintendent, director of transportation, and my rebellious streak within the Girl Scout ranks for trying to get my troop to focus on learning things rather than being a peddler of cookies for the higher ups. I just would like to know why there is no outrage, how much money gov. is making off of fat kids, what proof can I present, and how to get said proof.

I don't know that the government necessarily gets any sort of kickbacks from these type programs, in fact I'd venture to guess they benefit the corporations more than anything; they certainly don't benefit our children to the extent touted by those who organize and run these programs.

Actually I have to wonder to what extent the various organizations such as McDs, Pizza Hut, etc. actively lobby for these type school programs to be created in the first place, because it sure would seem in their best interest to do so.

Take the 'Book-It' program for example, it ties into the whole 'increased literacy equals a more educated and aware child shtick', which isn't a bad thing mind you, but at the same time it uses crap fast food as the carrot being dangled in front of their young and impressionable minds.

My question would be,
"How much do these corporations benefit from these type programs above and beyond the obvious increased profit and sales aspect?"

What degree of tax breaks, exemptions, corporate discounts or contracts do they receive for 'doing their part to support' the latest education bill, project or program ... of course with our children's best interests at heart, mind you.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


Maybe not the gov. entity in and of itself but certainly the congressmen and senators they lobby to. There has to be a paper trail somewhere but I'm sincerely at a loss of where to begin to look.

but does a corp need to lobby for approval of a fund? wouldn't that fund just have to be registered as an LLC and then introduced into the community and society and have a "legitimate" purpose or cause which their money is being used for such as breast cancer research or clean teeth initiatives which has to be accepted by the local school district in a way that the educational entity involved profits in one way or another, such as through tax cuts or donation from the company/organization, in order for the joint compliance of both parties to create a fundraising campaign in the name of that LLC? i thought these sort of fundraising schemes were in a sense partnerships between a school, or the district that regulates the school, and the companies that sponsor and promote the fund and the fundraising campaign which is designed and managed by both the school and company involved. so in that case, there isn't anything legally wrong with it and they would not need legislative approval as it fits in the loopholes. kind of like how you go to a chinese restaurant and they have a "save Tibet" plastic transparent box on the front counter where people can put in their money and a business card and at the end of the month the restaurant gives the money to the organization and in return gets a tax refund and if the owners of the restaurant have any sentimentality they make a sort of raffle game for the people who donated in the first place by using their business cards. to me it seems in essence almost the same practice with these corporations and schools except everyone donates because everyone gets a little something if they participate. and then yeah the corp is not only promoting itself and its constituents but also buying public opinion and children's minds with these sort of actions, but i suppose they are allowed to even though it's morally wrong, and that's the issue.

OMG thanks for posting this! I have 2 kids in public school and this crap pisses me off to no end. In fact my kids don't even tell me about events anymore because they know my reaction (There's no way in hell we are going to support a program like that!)

What happens here is ALOT of "support your school" nights at the local sack-of-crap fast food restaurants. The scam goes like this: On X night, Restaurant Y will donate 5% of total sales directly to your school! So get your family and friends to come down to Restaurant Y and spend spend spend to get your school some much needed funding! But really when you think about it what's a gangbusters night at a fast food joint? $1000? $1500? So in essence your local school is selling out the kids' health for $50-100? What a crock of sh*t!

McDonalds did a travelling school presentation that stopped at our school last year. Typical stay off drugs, stay in school crap, but all presented by the Clown and his cartoon costumed gang. And of course it was tied in to special offers that night at the local restaurants, through coupons distributed to the kids.

We also have the reading rewards programs here. The school doesn't gain anything but a free incentive and your kid gets a free mini pizza. But the fact is, 9 out of 10 times you go down with the family, order $30 worth of food and your good little reader gets his free mini. Total scam, again, by the food people.

It is getting worse too. I have noticed this year that every so often coupons for local child-related businesses gets sent home for no apparent reason. I don't know if the schools are charging advertising fees to distribute the coupons, or maybe the teacher's brother owns XYZ kid's fun zone or what. Or hell, they probably had the nerve to walk in and ask if the school could pass them out for free.

The ignorance of some people to the effects of advertising on children amazes me. My kids don't have cable anymore, and the difference in their "wantwantwants" is amazing. But they are still bombarded by very sophisticated adverts every day just by living in the world. Schools should be a safe haven from that crap.

reply to post by blamethegreys


I've gotten rid of cable as well. Whenever something gets sent home that I don't approve of I tell the kids I don't like it and explain why I don't. I don't like this at all.