Scholastic misusing book club & targeting children

My kids come quite a bit with paper order forms from scholastic. I'm kind of fond of those as I remember bringing those home when I was a kid and filling them out and getting books! It looks like they've been accused of using their book sales as a launching pad of sorts and have now broadened out to pushing jewelry, candy, and other goods.:angry:

Susan Linn, director of the campaign, said she had received complaints from parents who were concerned that their children were being sold toys, games, makeup and other items under the guise of a literary book club that is promoted in classrooms.

“Marketing in schools is a privilege and not a right,” Ms. Linn said in an interview. “Scholastic is abusing that privilege.”

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I'm very impressed with her comments, I'm glad that Scholastic is taking heat for this.

Scholastic

So, should we put limits on what is marketed to our children during the school day or should they be fair game for marketers?

I can't remember if it was the same company but I also have fond memories of taking those forms home and checking off the books I wanted. I loved the day that our orders were delivered. I always ordered Encyclopedia Brown and I think that played a big part in my love for reading.

But I have a huge problem with using students, who are pretty much a captive audience, as a route to selling non-educational items like candy and makeup. I also have similar concerns about the Boy Scouts and military recruiters (and this is coming from a proud member of the US military) having preferential access.

If the accusations are true, they deserve to get the flack they are getting. I remember ordering books from them all the time when I was a little spark.

I enjoyed ordering from scholastics when I was young also,and now my daughter orders from the French version here and they do have that jewelry and crap too but I refuse to order anything for her that is not a book.

My youngest is now 16 years old and my oldest 21 but I noticed a change in what scholastic was offering during their elementary school years. I remember what a thrill it was to get those scholastic book orders in when I was a kid. I owe Scholastic a big thanks for being there to wet my appetite for books which has served me to this day.

Unfortunately, Scholastic now sells alot of crap along with books. And, my opinion only, some of the books they sell are suspect too. Barely literature at all. I'm guessing they are targeting the non-reading students which, IMHO, is counter productive if you are are claiming to promote reading and literacy.

I was also one of those moms who worked the annual scholastic book fairs where I got to watch kids bypass books in favor of pop stars on posters and other crap instead of buying a book, which is what I'm sure their parent intended. Of course, that's why I was a volunteer, to make sure my kids didn't get distracted by the shiney baubbles. :whistling:

The books are still there but they definitely need to "clean house."

I was also one of those moms who worked the annual scholastic book fairs where I got to watch kids bypass books in favor of pop stars on posters and other crap instead of buying a book, which is what I'm sure their parent intended. Of course, that's why I was a volunteer, to make sure my kids didn't get distracted by the shiney baubbles. :whistling:

The books are still there but they definitely need to "clean house."

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They have huge rolling displays that are shipped around to elementary schools. The books are not cheap at all, they are definitely making a killing, or at least, attempting to make a killing off of their sales. Their non-book garbage is just another way to pad the profits at the expense of their ideals and mission.

I see Scolastic executive Judy Newman is defending the practice and is vowing that there will be no back-down in response to protests, citing:
"We're losing kids' interest (in reading). We have to keep them engaged. This (book club) model is 60 years old, and it has to stay relevant to do the work it does. To the extent we put in a few carefully selected non-book items, it's to keep up the interest."

Almost convincing Judy, but tempered somewhat by statements in the latest Scholastic annual report which emphasise the importance of "developing new promotional strategies to ensure they remain lucrative." And by lucrative I guess they're referring to the annual revenure of $2.2 billion and book-fair profits of over $330million!!!!