Corporate Funding School Sports Supermarket Chain
Thursday, November 11th, 2010Across the road from where we run our boot camps in Northcote, I came across this sign promoting the supermarket brand and that patronising these stores a will lead to the generation of funds for school sports.
It’s disturbing that our Australian school system has become reliant on large corporations to generate additional income to manage the shortfalls from what is available from the government.
The shortage of funds available to the public school sector has led to other forms of fundraising activities involving large corporations, typically this involves the school canteen whereby selling highly processed, fatty and sugary food is given precedence over healthier choices.
Unfortunately it’s all the bad food that should be consumed infrequently that tends to have the highest profit margin which in turn leads to greater income generation.
A recent report titled “Education at a Glance” produced by the Organization for Economic Development and Co-operation painted a very appalling situation in regards to Australia’s school funding reputation.
Compared to other countries, Australia ranks 26 out of a total of 28 countries in regards to the proportion of public versus private government funding. When compared to other countries for example the US where 99.8% of government funding is allocated for the public education system, only83.1% is invested in public schools.
This places enormous stress on the public school system to source additional funds from other willing participants who wish to expand their brand recognition and increase revenue of their products.
While it can be argued that supermarkets sell a range of food products, including junk food etc, it is instilling from a very young age the association with sports where one buys their food. As parents wish to support the school to generate additional funds, they will be encouraging friends and family members to participate in the program, similarly they will be trying to purchase the maximum amount of products from the supermarket.
While supermarkets dominate the food distribution landscape, (Back in 2007 this was a staggering 79% combined market share between Coles and Woolworths) we need to educate the next generation that there are other options out there when purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables.
Children who develop brand recognition as children go on to be come consumers in their adult life, they establish a loyal customer for life.
There are numerous examples of whereby the these large corporations have established lifelong customers through the early branding initiatives, one example is the money tins that were freely given away by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the 70s. Once a relationship and association has been established from a young age, the child will go on to become an adult customer.
This is a worrying trend that will not go away as schools are constantly seeking alternative forms of fundraising, fortunately the confectionery companies fundraising boxes has been banned from many schools.








