CAT Tracks for June 19, 2003 MY DONUTS HAVE A FIRST NAME...

Put your thinking caps on...what product would be appropriate for Cairo School District Number One to endorse? (No...I don't have an answer! But...I AM open to suggestions. Maybe a $5 prize for the best entry? NOTE: A $1 fine goes to our resident CAT censor for any profane language. But, hey...if you win...you clear $4! We're talking high stakes testimonials here...)

What am I talking about? Below is an article that appeared in the weekend edition of The Washington Post. For Channel One critics...this should light your/their fire...

Today's Lesson, Sponsored by . . .
Corporate Cash Prizes Aid Schools, Court Customers

By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 15, 2003

The year-end school party in Catherine Poling's third-grade class this week was a bit unusual: Girls wore their best dresses and kids scribbled "Go Homework" on the whiteboard.

It was different in another respect: It had a corporate sponsor. Dunkin' Donuts sent four dozen doughnuts and a representative to help celebrate the class's $6,000 grand prize victory in the company's contest to develop a one-minute commercial on "selling" the importance of homework.

The school, two-year-old Oakdale Elementary in Frederick County, is getting used to receiving large corporate checks. Last year, it won $10,000 for performing the best interpretation of Oscar Mayer's well-known wiener song. This year it won another $10,000 from Oscar Mayer for singing its bologna song and two other melodies, written by music teacher Lori Bower, praising Oscar Mayer Lunchables, complete with children dressed up as dancing pieces of bologna, ham and cheese.

Oakdale is the beneficiary of business's new efforts to market products inside schools, encouraging students to influence their parents' purchases.

One way they're reaching kids is by offering cash prizes to schools. Nestle offers a $10,000 grand prize for the most creative art using SweeTarts. It also awards five, $5,000 first-place awards.

Angel Soft toilet paper sponsors "Angel in Action," awarding $10,000 to the school with the best community service program, along with another $1,000 for the teacher. Baltimore's Stadium School won this year's grand prize for its efforts to develop a youth-run youth center. Last month, "Malcolm in the Middle" star Jane Kaczmarek showed up at the school to deliver the award.

Now, Angel Soft is searching for 10 students, ages 8 to 15, to award $5,000 each for exemplary acts of service -- along with a year's supply of toilet paper. "What family doesn't need that?" said Jill Mattos, senior director of brand marketing for Georgia Pacific's bath tissue brands.

While companies say they are filling a gap left by school funding deficits, some experts decry the trend.

"It's a very dangerous thing for a corporation to have this kind of presence in school," said advertising critic Jean Kilbourne. Children are more susceptible in school, she said, because they tend to believe that what they learn there is valid. So a commercial message in schools, no matter how subtle, "gives an aura of responsibility and truth," Kilbourne said.

Companies acknowledge they are trying to reach their current and future customers, but say their programs promote goodwill and help cash-strapped schools.

Nestle spokeswoman Tricia Bowles, for example, said the SweeTart art contest was designed to "do something extra for schools." Art programs are often cut when school budgets shrink, she noted. She said the company has not gotten complaints, except from schools saying that "we needed to send candy."

School officials say corporate programs are likely to become even more prevalent. "We're looking at very dire fiscal conditions in the states," said Dan Fuller, director of federal programs for the National School Boards Association. "Funding cuts in many programs, including education," are pressing many schools to look for other sources of income.

This year, 5,200 schools competed in the SweeTart contest. Submissions included a SweeTart mosaic of Mona Lisa and a life-size, three-dimensional car called the Sweetmobile that was covered in thousands of pieces of the pastel candy. The grand winner went to a Boston school for its staircase mural, with replicas of famous paintings by Monet, van Gogh and Dali, each incorporating the candy in some way.

Louise McCullogh, field marketing manager for the mid-Atlantic region of Dunkin' Donuts, said it launched its "Homework Stars" commercial contest to make a difference. "We started research to see where we could benefit our community," she said. "In talking to educators we found that homework was an area no one dealt with."

In addition to the contest, Dunkin' Donuts provides an eight-page activity guide and doughnut coupons for students who consistently complete their homework. The coupons are good for two donuts -- one for the student, another for the "helper," usually the parent.

"Doughnuts are not the major focus of the program, but just a small part, a little sweet addition to doing something," McCullogh said.

Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sarah Delea said the company decided to offer its "School House Jam" contest after concluding that music education is often underfunded. "Everybody loves the jingle so we saw a lot of synergy," she said.

The company teamed up with the National Association of Music Educators. Mike Blakeslee, the group's deputy executive director, said the program was a "real white hat issue."

While they may promote a product, the "jingles are valid music," Blakeslee said. They provide a point of departure for learning music. "You can talk about structure, pitch, rhythmic value," Blakeslee said. And for younger kids, he said, there is value in performing -- being on a stage and learning patience and teamwork.

The association estimates that school music education programs have collected more than $5 million from companies over the past few years. More than $1 million of that came from Oscar Mayer.

Georgia Pacific's Mattos said the Angel toilet paper contest's teacher's guide was distributed to more than a million students in 40,000 classrooms. The company wanted "to differentiate this brand from our competitors and have a connection with consumers and create goodwill among moms, kids and schools."

Schools that do not win any prize money are still eligible for other benefits -- visits from the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile or the Marshmallow Peeps bus.

To celebrate the 50th year of Peeps, for example, candymaker Just Born Inc. offered a "Peeps" bus tour to 100 schools. Joel Moses, an art teacher and fine-arts coordinator for the Petersburg, Va., school system, leaped at the chance. Students from kindergarten to second grade at three of the city's seven elementary schools got a ride and learned about the history of Peeps, making crafts from the marshmallow candy and taking home some free samples.

"Peeps has a lot of sugar so it's a very valid question" whether it should be a product promoted during school, Moses said in a telephone interview. However, he added, "I saw this as an unusual opportunity for kids to have a twist on their educational experience. Petersburg doesn't have that much money and any opportunity to bring cultural events into the community, if it's free, I grab at."

Paul Kurnit, president and founder of Kidshop, which specializes in kids marketing, urges marketers to consider schools a venue for reaching children. "Ten years ago, I was the one to say 'TV, TV, TV' when it came to reaching kids," he told 250 marketing executives who traveled to Orlando last month to participate in the 10th annual Kid Power convention for kids-marketing strategies.

Why schools? It's simple, Kurnit said: "It's where they meet and hang."

Contests with prizes, he added, "provide real tangible value for the schools, which makes it an easy 'yes' for administrators and teachers." It's a yes for some companies because contests are far less expensive than television ads, yet they still provide children with what he calls "the brand experience."

Oakdale Principal Judy Sherman said she sees no problem with the Oscar Mayer and Dunkin' Donuts contests, and no parents have complained.

"It's great for the school as well as for kids who have to use their creative writing and performing arts skills, not to mention all those good social skills," Sherman said. "The focus of any contest has to be on academics and it has to tie in with our curriculum."

What is Oakdale going to do with the money it has won? It has purchased 30 electronic keyboards for the music classroom and two dozen digital cameras for student projects. The school is shopping for some percussion instruments and equipment to make music videos.

"These are extra things you can't easily get" from the school budget, Poling said. "The contests don't detract from the learning and, if you win, they help provide new resources and new opportunities."

The kids in Poling's class said they got a lot out of participating in the contests. Nicole Nichols, 8, said, "I think we probably did learn about homework," but learned even more about how to work together as a team. As for Dunkin' Donuts, Nichols said, "I love them. I loved them before but now even more."

Would she eat any other doughnuts, say a Krispy Kreme? Nichols wrinkled her nose. "No, I don't like them."

Olivia Howells, 7, performed in both Oscar Mayer competitions and has no doubt what the best part was: "We won."

Has it prompted her to eat Oscar Mayer products? "No," she said.

For her part, Poling is already thinking about contest entries for next year.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company