Wednesday, October 10, 2001

Mr. Don Nielsen, President
Board of Directors
Seattle Public Schools
815 Fourth Ave. North
Seattle WA 98109-3902 USA

Dear Mr. Nielsen:

I understand that the Seattle School Board is developing a district-wide policy on advertising and commercial activities and that there is some question about how logos might fit into this policy. One proposal is to permit logos which identify corporate sponsors of school programs and activities, depending perhaps on the size, placement and degree of attention involved.

As the author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Picador, 2000), I can assure you that logos are indeed a form of advertising.

As I point out in my book, corporate tax as a percentage of total federal revenue in the United States has dropped sharply, from 32.1% in 1952 to only 11.5% in 1998, while corporate sponsorship spending has increased dramatically. Corporations increased spending on sponsorships 700% between 1985 and 1998 alone.

Clearly, one reason public schools are short of funds is that corporations now pay fewer taxes. To solve the funding problem by seeking corporate sponsors may seem like a good solution, but when corporations expect a quid pro quo arrangement requiring school children to be exposed to their logos at school and on homework assignments, one might ask if this is an appropriate solution to the funding problem after all.

Children are surrounded by logos outside school. Please grant them a sacred space in which to learn.

Respectfully,

Naomi Klein, Author

CC: School Board Members