In-School Marketing in France: The Teachers' Perspective

A Sponsored Educational Material (SEM) is a document created by a company for schoolchildren, in the form of pamphlets, videotapes or CD-ROMs, which deals with subjects such as road safety, nutrition or environmental awareness. Although it raises many questions concerning the ambiguous nature of these materials, no study currently exists about the opportunities and dangers of such a tool. This article explores French educators' use of and attitude towards SEM. From 20 individual interviews and the results from 150 questionnaires, the study reveals that in France, schoolteachers do use SEMs occasionally but take many precautions when using them.

Now that distributors' brand names and low-price products are competing with famous brands, companies understand that they have to capitalise on their relationships with their clients (Moulins 1998). The establishment of a consumer–brand relationship is particularly valuable with children since most of the brands preferred by those aged between 7 and 18 continue to be preferred 20 years later (Guest 1955, cited by Olsen 1993). Moreover children are an interesting target as a threefold market: as current consumers, influencers and future consumers (McNeal 1992). That is why marketers develop campaigns in order to reach children.

One such enterprise is in-school marketing. In acknowledging that schools are in need of money and materials, some businesses offer them what they need in exchange for reaching the children in school via advertisements (bill posting, radio, TV, internet), sponsorships and partnerships or the distribution of SEMs.

The potential contradiction of a technique such as SEM is that the aim of companies is at the same time:

• Social. It consists of inducing a change in children's behaviour, attitudes or ideas (for example, trying to increase children's concern about security and understanding about the danger of speed).
• Promotional. The brand name is present on the document, which is a great opportunity for the firm to benefit from the legitimacy of the school and to be able to reach all the children in one age group.

Although many controversies have arisen in the press about the ambiguous status of these materials (Giroux 1998; MacAllister 1998; Richards 1998; Gray 1999; Wynns 1999) no study currently exists regarding the opportunities and dangers of such a tool. In the USA, an exploratory investigation revealed that most of the teachers surveyed used SEMs regularly and perceived them as well-designed, up to date and useful, and they did not perceive them as overly commercial (Mueller et al. 1999).

However, the spreading of SEMs depends on the countries involved. In the USA, firms involved in education are numerous and SEMs reach millions of elementary and secondary students. Conversely, in-school marketing is more or less forbidden in most European countries (GMV 1998). Nevertheless, SEMs do exist there too: for example, in France the law has recently been relaxed in order to allow professors to use SEMs that are not considered 'too commercial'.

This article is organised into three parts. First, it is necessary to raise the question: What makes schools such a special place to reach children? Second, since the context of the spreading of SEMs seems important, the French context is explained. Third, the article will describe the results from a study involving interviews with 20 teachers and the analysis of 150 questionnaires. Since teachers are considered to play a pivotal role in mediating SEMs (Fuller 1995), this study aimed to assess if SEMs are distributed sufficiently in France in order to be able to study them – and to find out teachers' attitudes towards SEMs.

What makes school a special place

This subject is difficult to deal with – on two levels. First, SEMs target children, who do not yet have a complete understanding and whom we should protect. Second, SEMs are used at school where classes are supposed to be neutral – and sponsorship changes this idea of neutrality. But what makes schools so special so that there is such controversy? There are many promotional and social aspects.

The promotional aspects

Let us remember that children represent a triple target for firms: as current consumers, influencers and future consumers (McNeal 1992). But there are other reasons why schools are particularly effective places for reaching children (Molnar 1996):

1. The classroom is the place where knowledge is transmitted. Thus the children in school have to be attentive.
2. Children usually trust their teachers (for young children they are their second mum and dad). What teachers say is believed to be the truth. Thus the corporation must benefit from the legitimacy of the school.
3. The target is homogeneous: the children are almost the same age in each class, so that the information can be very well suited to the target.
4. School is obligatory. Thus a corporation can decide to reach a generation as a whole. Moreover, it is easy to create a complete database with all the children in a school and follow their track records.
5. School openness is limited, which reduces the competition once a corporation is in residence.
6. Since children are gathered together, the impact of the information can be reinforced if they speak about it among themselves afterwards.

The social aspects

1. When a brand of toothpaste does SEMs about teeth hygiene, the social aim is to induce a change in children's behaviour, and to make them brush their teeth regularly.
2. When a food company communicates in schools about the importance of nutrition, this is to make the children realise that their food habits will have some future consequences on their health.
3. When a car company does an SEM about road safety it is to make children change their values about the virtues of driving.

Nevertheless, the values transmitted in SEMs are perhaps different from the values educators want to transmit to children. Moreover, opponents to SEMs argue that these documents do not really tell the truth and are biased. For example, in the USA, the Consumer Union (1995) tested SEMs and classified 80% of them as containing biased information.

This raises the question of whether it is the role of corporations to teach at school. The question of the legitimacy of a corporation to take part in the school system depends on the context; that is to say, on the country.

In-school marketing in France

In France, corporations do not really play a role in the educational system. Nevertheless, some forms of partnership between schools and businesses are beginning to appear.

French schools are accustomed to being closed to the private sector. All forms of advertising were completely forbidden until the official report of National Education in April 2001 stated that some element of partnership between schools and corporations is allowed so long as it serves educational interests and is 'not too commercial', but the boundaries have not been clarified (Bulletin Officiel no. 14, 5 April 2001).

Some corporations have played a role in the educational system through internships or giving lectures, but most were public corporations: the public bank, the national telecommunication corporation and so on.

The French government has never reduced the budget allocated to schools, but the budget has kept pace with the schools' needs, which have increased largely because of the arrival of information technology. Teachers are given all the basic materials they need, but whenever they want to prepare a class on a subject other than maths, French, history or physics they have to find the materials themselves. While teachers are asked to prepare some classes on nutrition, environmental awareness or road safety, some are tempted to use the SEMs that corporations have prepared for them. However, previously, no study had been done on teachers' use of such materials in France.

French teacher's use of and attitudes towards SEMs

Teachers play a pivotal role in mediating SEMs because it is they who decide whether or not to use them in their classrooms and the way in which they will do so (Fuller 1995). That is why this first study is concentrated on understanding teachers' attitudes towards SEMs.

First, non-directive interviews (from 30 to 90 minutes' duration) with 20 teachers were carried out in Montpellier and Paris during winter 2000 and spring 2001. Second, 1000 questionnaires were sent in June 2001 to schools around Paris and Montpellier (150 questionnaires were returned).

An interview with an expert in SEMs revealed that these documents are created particularly for the class on consumer education, since most of the SEMs are about themes such as nutrition, road safety, advertising and so on). Teachers were then first asked their opinion about consumer education. Second, they were asked if they had ever used any SEMs, how they did so and what was their reluctance (if any) to using them.

Theme 1. Teachers' openness to corporations

Younger teachers are less hostile to the opening up of public schools, but still the openness is not without conditions. Some would appreciate only the help of public companies, others of small businesses established in the school area: 'It should remain a local phenomenon: the butcher, the baker…no big sponsors because we would lose our freedom.' It is clear that not every company could enter French schools, particularly those which represent American capitalism: 'I'll never sponsor Coke', 'We should never take the pupils to see a film by Disney or Spielberg or to McDonald's!'

Theme 2. Teachers' opinions about consumer education classes

It is unclear whether or not teachers think that consumer education should be taught at elementary schools. Some of the teachers, provided they have sufficient time, do engage in such teaching in the context of the programme of civic education. They carry out some informal interventions, trying to interact with the children in order to develop their critical thinking, particularly when the pupils are talking about their brands or about advertisements; for example, when they become crazy about a new fashion or when they all buy the same schoolbag. The idea is to help pupils make their own choice. The objective is to open their minds in order that they can have many alternatives when making a choice: 'I want to help them not to become passive consumers.' At nursery schools, teachers usually organise the food break so that children can taste many flavours: bread, fruit, natural yoghurts or cheese are given to the children instead of junk food. The main objective of consumer education is to make the children do something they would perhaps not usually do, such as going to see an art movie.

The questionnaires revealed the themes most often treated in the consumer education field (Table 1).

TABLE 1: PERCENTAGE OF TEACHERS WHO STATE THEY HAVE GIVEN A CLASS ON THE DIFFERENT THEMES OF CONSUMER EDUCATION

It is amazing how teachers sometimes use products from corporations as a support in their class teaching, doing some kind of advertising for the brand without even noticing it. For example, one teacher revealed: 'Since we don't have a lot of money, we retrieve boxes for the kitchen playground…like the Barilla pasta box – stuff that they recognise in order to be able to play with.'

Theme 3. Attitude and behaviour about SEMs

Are SEMs used in class?

Fifty per cent of the 150 respondents state having used SEMs occasionally. Surprisingly, this is more than in the USA, since according to a study conducted by Mueller et al. (1999), 43% of the 210 teachers interviewed revealed having used SEMs. Hence the phenomenon does exist in France and can be studied.

Teachers have used SEMs from many different brands and different themes: 78% of the teachers stated they used SEMs for a nutrition class, 52% for an environment awareness class, 32% about healthcare and 29% about security. The percentages do not differ between private and public schools. The use depends on the years of experience, with young teachers having least use of SEMs: 42% of the teachers with under 10 years' experience stated using SEMs compared to 65% of those with 10 to 20 years of experience and 48% with more than 20 years. From the interviews, we believe that these differences are due to time pressure. Indeed, young teachers have revealed that they tend to focus on the main subjects (maths, French and science), because a class takes them too much time to prepare, and they usually don't give the classes they do not have to. Teachers working in the countryside seem to use more SEMs than those working in town, perhaps because they have fewer alternatives.

How do SEMs arrive at schools?

What are the attributes of SEMs that teachers like

Those who use SEMs say it is because of their quality: 'There are some subjects we don't really know about; that is why we are tempted to use a document which is well done', 'X was a really clear, wonderful document', 'I use these documents because they are really practical'.

The attributes of the SEMs which teachers look at are:

Deception

Teachers who have been deceived by the action of a brand are very reluctant to use other SEMs. Five (out of the 20 people interviewed) revealed a deception from the same corporation that did not respect their deal: 'Once we had been visited by X, they gave the children a questionnaire they were told that they would receive a gift… But they have actually done door-to-door selling at their parents' house. We said that it would be the last time this happens', 'We have been deceived by an encyclopaedia and since then we are a lot more wary'.

The alternatives to SEMs

If the educational system does not provide the teachers with materials for new subjects, other public organisations do, such as the police, local communities, local associations and so on: 'In Montpellier, the police intervene at school. Then I do not need any sponsored material.' Some teachers find other alternatives to SEMs by making their own materials.

How SEMs are used

Teachers who do use SEMs do this in five different ways:

1. They talk about the product in a positive way (without mentioning the brand).
2. They use the sponsored brand critically to attract the children's attention: 'Look, this is a sponsored material. And there must be a reason why this company is the sponsor of this.'
3. They use the SEMs but mix them with products or materials of other brands in order not to 'favour' a particular brand: 'I received samples from Colgate, then I went to a pharmacy to ask for samples from other brands to show the children that there are different brands.'
4. They use it neutrally (they do not say anything about the brand or the products of the sponsored brand).
5. They find some strategies to prevent the children from seeing the logo: they hide the logo or make montages with photocopies: 'Perhaps the brand manipulates us but I manipulate it too. I use the SEM to steal the idea from them and I rebuild it in my own way.'

Thus from this first study it appears that French teachers use enough SEMs so that this technique may be studied in France. Yet they seem to be wary about what comes from the private big businesses in general. Using SEMs is not something they would do every day. They use them occasionally, because, contrary to the American teachers:

• they are not in great need of materials for the main subjects, but only for secondary subjects;
• they are often reluctant to use whatever comes from private companies;
• they can find materials from other organisations (such as associations);
• they can make them themselves.

Conclusion

At this point, it is possible to draw several conclusions for government decision-makers and for corporations.

In France the law has been relaxed recently in order to allow teachers to use SEMs more freely. Yet teachers revealed that they were not being trained sufficiently either to use these new kinds of materials or to teach the new subjects they are invited to teach (such as consumer education). Thus training teachers on consumer education subjects (e.g. nutrition, road safety) seems necessary in France – particularly while at teacher training college. Perhaps the French government should look at what has been done in Spain at the Universidad del Consumidor at Santander, where teachers are trained during internships to deal with this subject. A book for consumer education in Spain called Explorando que es consumo has been written with this objective in mind, with the help of the 'Ayuntamiento de Santander'.

This study should be useful to corporations who make or intend to make SEMs for schools. Since we stated at the beginning of this article that the objective of an SEM must be twofold (social and commercial) for a business, it seems that:

• if the objective is mainly social then the message must be useful, regardless of the way teachers use the SEM;
• on the other hand, if the main objective of the firm is commercial, it should consider the commercial effects of the SEM when teachers use it in their own way, which is perhaps not in line with the aims of the corporations.

Moreover, these SEMs should always be prepared with the help of teachers (the Institut National de la Consommation (INC) already vets documents which corporations send to them), to ensure that SEMs are suitable. If not, teachers will feel deceived and may close the school doors completely to SEMs.

This subject raises much debate since SEMs represent one way that corporations can take part in the educational system. Yet, as Giroux reminds us, the debate hinges on the possible incompatibility of schools' and corporations' objectives:

'Schools are an important indicator of the well-being of a democratic society. They remind us of the civic values that must be passed on to young people in order for them to think critically, to participate in power relations and political decisions that affect their lives, and to transform the racial, social, and economic inequalities that limit democratic social relations… The advocates of corporate culture no longer view public education in terms of its civic function; rather it is primarily a commercial venture in which the only form of citizenship available for young people is consumerism.'
(Giroux 2000, pp. 83–85)

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the Institut National de la Consommation and the CEFAG for their support.

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