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Scholastic Books Selling Video Games In Schools
Scholastic Books the company known for coming into public schools in the USA once or twice a year to sell books and small knickknacks all to encourage children to read has been selling video games, and some parents are not too happy. Check it out:
Thanks to Yahoo! Games for this article.
From my memory Scholastic has been selling video games for a long time as I personally remember seeing a Star Wars games at a book sale many many years ago.
Most parents know Scholastic as the publisher of perfectly appropriate children's fare like Harry Potter. But according to one advocacy group, Scholastic's latest marketing efforts are a little too kid-friendly.
The New York Times reports that the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has launched an online protest against Scholastic's popular in-school book clubs, claiming the publisher is using its clout to promote non-book merchandise to kids, from licensed video games to Hannah Montana posters.
"The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is a privilege, not a right," said campaign director Susan Linn in a press release. "Schools grant Scholastic unique commercial access to children because of its reputation as an educational publisher. But Scholastic is abusing that privilege by flooding classrooms across the country with ads for toys, trinkets, and electronic media with little or no educational value."
Scholastic's book clubs reach about three-quarters of elementary school teachers in the U.S. Last year, they generated over $330 million for the company. Based on reviews of the company's 2008 fliers, the CCFC claims that about 14% of the items for sale were not books at all, including game gear like the poorly-received M&M’s Kart Racing for the Wii and a wireless PS2 controller, while an additional 19% were books packaged with other kinds of merchandise, like toys or makeup.
In their defense, Scholastic Book Club president Judy Newman told the Times that the non-book materials were intended to stimulate interest in the books themselves.
"We work with teachers to make sure that items are O.K. to put out in their classrooms," she said. "In a class of 24 kids, some of them will be turned on by a game, and it helps kids engage in the book club process."
The CCFC has a history of going after video games, most recently by tagging the E-rated Lego Batman as one of the worst toys of 2008. More information on the online protest can be found here.
The New York Times reports that the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has launched an online protest against Scholastic's popular in-school book clubs, claiming the publisher is using its clout to promote non-book merchandise to kids, from licensed video games to Hannah Montana posters.
"The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is a privilege, not a right," said campaign director Susan Linn in a press release. "Schools grant Scholastic unique commercial access to children because of its reputation as an educational publisher. But Scholastic is abusing that privilege by flooding classrooms across the country with ads for toys, trinkets, and electronic media with little or no educational value."
Scholastic's book clubs reach about three-quarters of elementary school teachers in the U.S. Last year, they generated over $330 million for the company. Based on reviews of the company's 2008 fliers, the CCFC claims that about 14% of the items for sale were not books at all, including game gear like the poorly-received M&M’s Kart Racing for the Wii and a wireless PS2 controller, while an additional 19% were books packaged with other kinds of merchandise, like toys or makeup.
In their defense, Scholastic Book Club president Judy Newman told the Times that the non-book materials were intended to stimulate interest in the books themselves.
"We work with teachers to make sure that items are O.K. to put out in their classrooms," she said. "In a class of 24 kids, some of them will be turned on by a game, and it helps kids engage in the book club process."
The CCFC has a history of going after video games, most recently by tagging the E-rated Lego Batman as one of the worst toys of 2008. More information on the online protest can be found here.
Thanks to Yahoo! Games for this article.
From my memory Scholastic has been selling video games for a long time as I personally remember seeing a Star Wars games at a book sale many many years ago.
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