Last
March, The National Parks Foundation (NPF) announced a proposed revision to its
policies that would allow corporate sponsorships at national parks, including naming
rights, logos, printed materials and interpretive exhibits and digital media. Immediately the press started to joke about
using Old Faithful to pitch Viagra.
The
folks at NPF say that the donors will only be allowed to do something tasteful
like they do at universities and museums.
But they also say that corporate donors are wary of being associated
with the commercialization of national parks. (Tkaczyk, 2016)
This
week Levi Strauss announced that they will be bringing lessons on water
conservation to 1.5 million grade-school kids.
Levi's is already heavily invested in the initiative. Did you hear how rarely the CEO washes his
jeans? But there are some who question
the intent of the "Our Watery World" program, which is aimed at kids
in grade 3 -5. (Mahoney, 2016)
As we
discussed last week, there is ample evidence that cause marketing can be
effective. But what do you think about
these examples? Do you think they will
make people want to buy something? Why?
Tkaczyk,
C. (2016, May 10) No, the US National
Parks Will Not Be Sponsored by Viagra. fortune.com.
Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2016/05/10/national-park-service-advertising/
