I am not one of those who has a Pavlovian hate for corporations.
Throughout my 40-year working career, virtually all my jobs were in the private sector … the only exception, as a university student, I worked as a ticket taker at Montreal’s Expo 67 … a government job of sorts.
So although I have been dismayed and highly critical on my blog of how the latest generation of corporate owners, greedy acquisitionists and their bean-counter managers have so badly damaged local news in this country … I recognize that I personally profitted very well from my “corporate” employment.
And I actually appreciate the role corporate sponsorships have played in sponsoring athletes and funding the Vancouver Olympic Games. Without the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by businesses, the athletic events, giant party and all the celebrations so many have enjoyed as part of the Olympics simply could not have taken place.
Of course, in return for their largesse, the corporations hope to bring in more business for themselves, promote their brands and improve their image and bottom lines. Nothing wrong with that.
But should the companies use the games to take advantage of/indocrinate our kids?
One of my blog readers … the mother of two children … thinks some Official Sponsors are doing just that … at Yaletown’s LiveCity.
Here’s her perspective of what’s really going on there:
” Just today we went with my son’s class on a field trip to Livecity in Yaletown. The agenda states it is a guided educational program that the VSB supports though truthfully, really has no educational element to it. There is no guide and nothing about the history of the Olympics, BC, Vancouver etc. What it includes, is 4 tents – Coca Cola, Panasonic, Samsung and Acer, basically promoting their products and no educational component unless the kids are receiving an early commerce class – with free flowing Coca Cola too. We spent 6 hours on our feet, mostly outside, in the cold, not seeing much. It is unfortunately a joke that was aimed at local children to likely get them as consumers of these products from a young age, with the support of the school system. How pathetic. One of the teachers complained she felt conned into being asked to pass out free Coke bottles to all the kids, as were all the adults there. Can you believe that this is promoted as an educational program that is really a disguised advertisement for the companies? The Olympic organizers, city etc obviously promised these guys a place to promote their stuff though honestly, why should the kids get fooled? Did they really think that no one would notice its only advertising? Why would the VSB attach themselves to this? Wondering what you might think of all that.”
Hmm! Well, I think the media should do their REAL jobs and go after stories on that. And the VSB’s role.
What we are getting though, from the media, is too much cheerleading.
I’m cheering Canada and the Games like many others … but I am not working. I have a large Canadian flag in my window; rejoice with all the Canadian wins, have felt the disappointment of losses and I shared the grief and triumph of Joannie Rochette as much as anyone. But again, I’m not employed as a reporter, with a requisite critical eye.
If I was working , I’d be going after more than the corporate “success” stories we keep seeing … like how WELL businesses/restaurants DOWNTOWN are doing. Duh!!
I’d be doing much more on the small businesses on Broadway, Granville South and Cambie that are suffering because of Olympic restrictions.
And I’d be looking at the corporate pavilions with more than just a “what’s new?” eye.
Thanks, mom … for doing their job.
And be thankful it is cola they’re handing out to the kids … not cigarettes.
Harv Oberfeld
6 responses so far ↓
1 Brian // Feb 26, 2010 at 6:13 pm
What about those restaurants that are “robbing” olympic visitors by adding 20% gratuity onto the already inflated meal price. The MSM did do a story on this, but it would appear that it did little for those restaurants to stop the practice.
Nice way to bring back the tourist to visit BC again, don’t ya think?
(Response: I’ve never liked the automatic gratuity: still recall several cases of indifferent even non-service in Britain and France where gratuity was added. They say it’s because many foreign visitors don’t understand our system: would prefer a small piece of paper explaining our system attached to each menu or bill rather than dictating what the tip will be, regardless of quality. h.o.)
2 DMJ // Feb 26, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Interesting.
On Monday, my son’s grade 8 sports team will be playing an ‘away’ game at a school about 30 km away.
Because his sport is not a ‘glamour sport’, there is no school funding and all the coaches, except one, are parent and/or volunteers.
There is no money for buses, so parents must drive the boys. There is no money for ‘gear’ because we are not a ‘glamour’ sport, yet there are over 100 boys and girls in this sports grade 8 to 12 program.
Now compare this to Olympic funding, where ‘Own the Podium’ program has spent tens millions on a very few athletes to win a ‘Gold Medal’ at an event held every 4 years.
There is no trickle down to school sports from the Olympics, unless you play hockey and very few here do or can afford to play that sport.
Parents do not get tax exempted ‘free tickets’ to elite events, nor much of a thank you from politicians for giving their time and money to see their kids play sport.
In BC, the Campbell government has all but stopped giving money for school sports and what little trickles through is allocated to ‘glamour’ sports.
For this, the Olympics are a charade, with subsidized athletes, pampered by their political masters who ultimately want their reelection poster and TV ads showing then next to a gold medal winner.
I am cynical; I have seen too much waste; I have witnesses first hand school sport elitism; and will have to endure Olympic hubris; it all leaves a bad taste in one mouth.
Doesn’t the government know or care that to keep children in sports and encourage them to do well, keeps those very same children out of trouble? I guess Gordo or Harpo won’t get much political mileage standing next to my son!
(Response: The games have given me pause for thought: maybe governments should redirect $$$ to school sports, amateur sports and even elite athlete training …. some of the money they now throw into many bottomless pit programs. At least we would get some return on our investment in healthier kids, more centred and focussed young people (away from all that useless Internet surfing and twitteriing etc) and more fit Canadians. The problem, of course, is that taxes are already beyond reason, so which “bottomless” almost useless programs to cut? Pick your own …because if I named mine … I’d be here all day, fending off the deluge of angry e-mails from their administrators and all their friends who wallow in wasted public money all year round …sometimes for decades…with little to show for it. h.o.)
3 SharingIsGood // Feb 27, 2010 at 2:52 am
I note that all four of those corporations on the field trip are international corporation, none of which has their main headquarters in Canada. It’s bad enough that the field trip had no education value, it also had no capital value for BC or Canada. Perhaps the teacher can turn it into a lesson by asking the children what they learned from the international corporations and performing a quasi- cost/benefit analysis on their feild trip.
Kudos to the mom.
4 RS // Feb 27, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I attended one of the staged torch run events and was dismayed by the commercialism of it all. There were throngs of school children in attendance waving Coke flags and beating on RBC tambourines as the announcers repeatedly made all aware of both the major and minor sponsors of the event. Every performance on the stage, save for a childrens’ choir, was brought to you by…
If the event were to be judged like figure skating and freestyle skiing (aerials & moguls), Coke would surely have won gold (the line up of children looking for a free bottle of Coke may even have eclipsed the very flame they were there to see and celebrate). The silver went to the Olympic flame itself as it did hold most everyone’s attention, but only between the free bottles of Coke. And RBC receives bronze despite their best efforts to convince us that they alone could make a difference and change our lives for the better.
The hypocrisy of the Olympics being sponsored by fast food ‘n’ soft drinks is absurd, but as H.O. alludes to in one of his responses, at least it’s not tobacco they’re peddling. Come to think of it, it wasn’t that long ago that RJR-Macdonald Inc. was sponsoring the Canadian Ski Association and Export “A” banners were prevalent at all sanctioned World Cup skiing events here at home. In fact, we might very well have seen those green Export “A” banners on the slopes during the 1988 Olympics in Calgary had the Calgary Organizing Committee not emphatically stated they would not accept any funding from tobacco companies.
Unfortunately, sponsorship has become a necessary evil in staging events of various types and magnitude, but if only the sponsors could be a little less “in your face” about it all, but then, that’s the nature of the relationship I suppose. In scientific terms, I’m left to wonder if the symbiotic relationships between sponsors and the recipients are mutualistic, commonsalistic, or parasitic relationships?
(Response: Exactly. My blog reading mom raiseca very important issue … sponsorships are ok ..but should we really let them go after the kids so blatantly? And where is/was the VSB that it would particpate in “sugaring up” their students? h.o.)
5 DMJ // Feb 27, 2010 at 6:20 pm
H.O.
Just to add a little bit more to my comment.
I paid $150 to register my son to play a certain school sport, which included shorts, socks, and practice jersey. We return in his playing Jersey after the season.
Insurance is provided by the school board.
My son also play a ‘club’ sport (same sport) and his dues are $250 of which $150 goes for insurance.
I pay $350 a season to play in a senior league of the same sport.
Insurance is a big item, about 50% of dues for amateur sport and I would like to see a Government funded insurance policy (part of BC Medical?) strictly for amateur sport.
It should not cost a whole lot (as we are already covered by BC medical) and would free monies otherwise spent on private insurance. Lower fees mean more people participating in sport, which is a stated government aim.
I also think that parents who help coach (like myself), transport, etc. students in a bona-fide school sport should receive a tax credit.
This would be the government acknowledging that the parent has contributed time and money in helping his/her child in sport. It need not be big – $250 to $500, per season. Compare this with METRO Board meetings where politicians are paid up to $400 to attend on meeting!
I think that what I have stated can be done with little fuss and would go a long way in helping all those participating in amateur sport.
For many, the ever higher insurance costs are putting organized amateur sport out of reach for many.
(Response: Maybe even a tax credit for money spent on enroling kids in sports… provided they get a receipt indicating they actually did attend and take part? Maybe someone should recommend that to their MLA or MP or even directly Campbell and Harper. h..o)
6 Derek // Mar 1, 2010 at 4:01 am
The corporate manipulations at the Olympics could be dismissed as downright farcical if the consequences were not so dire.
Most adults capable of critical thought would immediately see the contradictory message delivered by McDonald’s being proclaimed the official restaurant of the games, or by Coca Cola being a leading sponsor. Both corporations have contributed significantly to obesity and heart disease on a global scale. How can either corporation claim to be associated with good health or athleticism?
However, impressionable youth can easily be led astray by the addictive allure of liquid invert sugar, caffeine, fat and salt, especially when they are handed free gifts.
I am not against corporations which operate in a responsible manner, but do decry instances where corporations intentionally use their financial muscle and visibility to seize captive audiences such as children. Talk about indoctrination.
The VSB officials who were involved in this matter should be fired for their crass subversion of education and health promotion. After all, why did the provincial government even bother to remove pop and junk food from public schools?
Ironically, some of the kids on these so-called field trips may yet learn a vital lesson about corporate duplicity and greed should their teachers be able and willing to present an open discussion about what transpired at the Yaletown Live City.
(Response: The problem is most kids around 8 or 9 don’t take away lessons in corporate manipulation or health messages: they just love the Coke ..and want more, more, more. There’s a really good reason companies hand out “samples”. h.o.)
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