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Stealth merchandising
Why is the venerable Scholastic book club company peddling cheesy toys in classrooms?
By Shoshana Marchand
[02/29/00]

Hooked on tutoring
After-school programs bleed Mom and Dad while dissing Junior's teachers.
By Catherine Davis
[02/29/00]

What kind of mother are you?
Marketing mavens dissect moms for eager advertisers.
By Lisa Moskowitz
[02/28/00]

Shrinks and con men
An unholy alliance of psychologists and advertisers targets kiddie consumers.
By Arthur Allen
[02/28/00]

The series: An introduction
We ponder the family as a marketing bonanza.
By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
[02/28/00]

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And it's my job as a parent to impose all my own biases directly on my sweet, innocent girl. If, at the end of this vale of tears, my daughter turns out to be one of those people with a "Don't Even Think About Soliciting Here" sign on her front door, my job is done.

Sally is savvy to the potential P.R. problem caused by packs of bright-eyed kindergartners roaming unfamiliar neighborhoods. "At Sally Foster, safety comes first," reads the 1999 Chocolate Order Form. "Please, only sell to people you, your parent or guardian know. NEVER sell to strangers!"

Also Today The family for sale We take a week to examine the ravenous commercial forces that prey on us each day.   Stealth merchandising Why is the venerable Scholastic book club company peddling cheesy toys in classrooms? By Shoshana Marchand   Hooked on tutoring After-school programs bleed Mom and Dad while dissing Junior's teachers. By Catherine Davis

This appears to be a concern, but is actually disingenuous in the extreme. Like bad parents everywhere, Sally offers a reward for performance. Any kid who sells even one item receives a worthless and silly poster of a space robot, a carrot so skimpy even my kindergartner could see it for what it was -- a ploy to get you further down the rewards list. That's where the good stuff is. Sell five items and you get a set of four glow-in-the-dark planets, estimated retail value: 29 cents. Twenty items and your lucky little sales boy or girl gets to choose from a glowing wind-up twister top, recyclables fun book or six clip-on animal buddies. Seventy items equals a radio that looks like a cell phone, and 100 nets a CD player with headphones.

Maybe I'm a pariah, but I doubt I could come up with 70 to 100 people for my daughter to hit up. Which means, for me at least, that Sally is talking out of both sides of her mouth. She implores my daughter to be safe, to sell only to people she knows and trusts, yet she offers rewards that can only be obtained by going well beyond the circle of people she knows and trusts.

Yes, this effort is supposed to be for the good of the school. But so are my not-inconsiderable tax dollars. If the school is that strapped, why not hit up homeowners for an extra mil or two on the old ad valorems? Is it really so politically unpalatable to talk of tax increases in America that we have to send our children into the streets to raise money for educational materials?

Not to mention the issue of compensation. At the average price of $9.80 per product, any kid who sells 100 Sally Foster items will gross $980. Split 50-50, that's $490 for the school, $490 for Sally. That same kid will receive a portable CD player worth, let's say $35, for his or her efforts. If those efforts amount to 10 hours, a conservative estimate, that kid is making $3.50 per hour. Last time I checked, the federal minimum wage was $5.15 an hour. Of course that doesn't apply if your workforce consists of 5-year-old kids.

All in all, a pretty cheap, effective way to market your goods. I must be one of the only parents who thinks so, though. I hear the school raised $34,000 with Sally's help.
salon.com | Feb. 29, 2000

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