Advertising to Kids on the Bus: Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Marketers must learn to balance their constitutionally-protected right to commercial speech against society's expectations that companies will behave responsibly. With every legally protected right comes a duty. In the marketing context, a company should recognize that just because it can legally do something, does not always mean it should. Occasionally, restraint is the better part of wisdom.

The need for such balancing was highlighted by the recent decision of a few municipal school districts to allow commercial advertising to kids on school buses this coming fall. An enterprising company has a new system that, according to the Washington Post, “will pipe into school buses around the country a private radio network that plays music, public service announcements, contests and ads aimed at kids as they travel to and from school.”

Apparently, there is nothing in law, regulation or policy that prohibits such advertising. To be sure, the school districts, suffering from funding cutbacks and shortfalls, could use the extra money. Advertising revenues could supplement a host of sorely-needed school expenditures ranging from teacher salaries to physical education programs.

But at what cost?

Marketers have much more to lose than to gain by going forward with such a plan. Doing so risks the wrath of many. Moreover, ads on school buses could bring unnecessary attention to the thriving business of advertising to children altogether—at a time when the practice itself is under considerable scrutiny.

Prudence suggests this is a bad idea. It is a bad idea not because advertising to children is wrong. It is a bad idea because advertising to children on a school bus is not wise.

Some things should be out of bounds, even if the rules allow them. It is a classic case of a short-sighted, context-void, idea that should not see the light of day. And just because advertisers can do it, does not mean they should.

If the last two years have proven anything to marketers, it is that children (and to a lesser extent youth) are in a very special category. Society demands and expects that they be treated differently by everyone, but especially by marketers and media. The siren song coming from Capitol Hill, interest groups and even consumers is blaring: we are watching.

Right now, advertising to children is undergoing a thorough review. Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau all are examining ways to meet the challenges of a new media environment in which commercial messages aimed at kids seem to be coming from everywhere.

I believe the answer for all stakeholders involved lies in the balance between the rights of marketers on the one hand, and their capacity to be responsible corporate citizens on the other. If they are wise, marketers will refrain from exercising their rights and go to great lengths, instead, to prove their responsibility.

© 2006

Adonis Hoffman is a lawyer and marketing communications expert in Washington, DC. He is the founder and chairman of the Center on Responsible Media & Marketing.