Schools, Advertising/Marketing in

Edward L. Palmer

Given the extensive presence of commercial interests in today's schools, it may be hard to believe that at one time, schools were thought of as commercial-free settings focused on teaching and learning. Evidence of corporate presence and direct sales appeal to children and teens grew relatively slowly for several decades, but advertising and marketing have exploded in the past 30 years. This entry looks at that history and at the various forms of school-related marketing present today: product sales, direct advertising, indirect advertising, and market research. The noncommercial nature of schools began to change in the 1920s—quietly at first—when public relations frontiersman Edward L. Bernays brought Ivory Soapsponsored soap-carving competitions into classrooms. The advertising and marketing presence steadily grew in the early 1930s, as the American Bankers Association, tarnished by the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Depression, worked to restore its image by introducing educational materials into ...

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