Frequently Asked Questions:
1)
How much advertising will there be on BusRadio?
2) Who are BusRadio's advertisers?
3) What's wrong with marketing on a school
bus?
4) Isn't it better for students to listen to age-appropriate
content than regular commercial radio?
5) Will BusRadio improve behavior on the bus?
1)
How much advertising will there be on BusRadio?
BusRadio broadcasts will feature eight minutes of advertisements
and two minutes of sponsored contests per hour. In addition,
BusRadio is offering advertisers the option to sponsor entire
blocks of programming or provide a celebrity disc jockey (who
can then promote a brand, movie, or music). Because it is not
monitored by the Federal Communications Commission, BusRadio can
feature music that they are paid to play. Broadcasts will
promote BusRadio's website which will feature even more
advertising, allow students to download music, and purchase
items from the BusRadio on-line store.
2) Who are BusRadio's advertisers?
BusRadio refuses to disclose who its advertisers are, a
disturbing stance for a company that wishes to conduct business
on public school buses. We have be able to find out that
the following advertisements have appeared on BusRadio's
elementary school broadcasts:
-
BusRadio has been promoting Bratz DVDs during its elementary
school broadcasts. The Bratz dolls were recently singled out
by the American Psychological Association for contributing to
the sexualization of young girls. Many parents we have spoken
do not allow Bratz in their homes and were very upset to find
out the dolls were being promoted through a school venue.
-
Another elementary school advertiser, Answers.com, tells
students to do their home work by looking up their answers on
the Internet. The ad even includes one student making fun of
another student who is carrying around books.
-
BusRadio has run
advertisements for Cingular cell phones on its elementary
school broadcasts. The ads mock a girl's mother because
she is concerned about her daughter's cell phone bills.
Parents immersed in the "cell phone battle" may not want their
children hearing Cingular ads as a part of the school day.
-
On its website for advertisers, BusRadio noted that it "gave
The WB Network the flexibility to run commercials for their
shows the day they were to air. To take full advantage of the
BusRadio network, The WB ran more ads during student's ride
home after school so they could reinforce the message to watch
that night." Should the last message in a school day be one
that encourages students to watch TV?
3) What's wrong with marketing on a school
bus?
Marketing is a factor in myriad problems facing
children today--trom childhood obesity, eating disorders and
youth violence, to precociously irresponsible sexuality, family
stress and the acquisition of materialistic values.
School-based marketing carries extra weight with students who
know-whether they like school or not-that anything associated
with school is supposed to be good for them.
4) Isn't it better for students to listen to age-appropriate
content than regular commercial radio?
It is true that
children may hear inappropriate content on regular radio on
school buses. But installing BusRadio only substitutes one
problem for another by replacing inappropriate content with
advertising targeted directly to children. A simpler and
more effective solution is to just turn the radio off.
In addition, it's not really clear that BusRadio is more "age
appropriate" than other radio stations. While BusRadio
refuses to make its broadcasts public, the websites that they
maintain for children promotes many musical artists (such as
Gwen Stefani, Nickelback, and Fergie) whose albums come with
parental advisories for explicit lyrics. This suggests
that BusRadio's conception of "age-appropriate" differs from
that of many parents.
5) Will BusRadio improve behavior on the bus?
BusRadio
cites a survey of bus drivers to claim that it improves student
behavior. But they only interviewed ten drivers and it was conducted before BusRadio
included advertising. Regardless,
forcing children to listen to commercial radio broadcasts is not
an appropriate school behavioral management system. |
