Smear Ads

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/05/campaign.wrap/index.html



This article speaks about the smear ads that we have all seen in this presidential election process. For instance, McCain will bring up that Obama was associating with the terrorists who attacked on 9/11 and that this is true and not a smear. But how do we know who to believe? Both candidates tell us what we need to do to fix our economy and country yet they are bashing each others ideas in debates and on television ads. Isn't it unethical to have these ads say things to the public that might not necessarily be true? Maybe our two-party system is flawed, but could a three party system work? Regardless, it seems that the candidates spend more time criticizing the other than they do talking about their ideas, how they'd put them to work, and how they'd better our society as a whole.

Hucksters in the Classroom

After reading this article I have a new take on company's that try and help public schools by providing learning materials. Their goal isn't to educate our youth but to try and put their product in their minds so they will buy it in the future. The only reason this is accepted is because the public schools are so underfunded they will take anything that's free to them. By doing this children aren't even safe from advertising at school, the one place where education should be the only thing allowed in schools. The only bright spot is that this approach might keep kids attention while they learn things.
But are they learning useful information or just what the companies want them to learn. An example is that Exxon has an energy cube that teaches kids that fossil fuel poses few environmental problems and that alternative energy is too costly and cannot be attained. This shouldn't be what kids are learning today because it sends the wrong message to them. Fossil fuels pollute the environment and alternative energy is becoming more and more real everyday. But children don't get another prospective and therefore are put at a disadvantage.
Another topic is the use of news broadcast in the form of Channel One in the classroom. Not only does this take away from other things that the kids could be doing it instills t.v. watching where it shouldn't be. The commercials during these broadcasts aren't regulated by the school so Primedia, the company who runs Channel One, can sell ad space to whoever pays the most for it. I watched Channel One when I was in middle school and to me it was far to short to really report on current events that are important to everyone. All it did was give students time to talk to friends or finish up homework that they didn't do the night before.
In conclusion the effects of product placement in the classroom won't be known for awhile but in my opinion it's already working because I doubt companies will keep putting money into something that doesn't show a return for them. The only question is where does it end.