BAYER has long had its sights set on public schools. BAYER subsidiary CURRENTA has now gone one step further with its gift of a specially produced hidden object book for kindergartens in the communities where it has sites. A blatant attack on the minds of the very young.
Large companies are increasingly targeting children and adolescents. For example, the company BAYER operates a mobile chemistry laboratory “to make the subject more appealing” to young people. BAYER also offers training days for teachers and teaching materials free of charge, especially concerning controversial subjects such as bee mortality and genetic engineering. Each year, the company distributes about half a million euros to schools close to its sites.
BAYER subsidiary CURRENTA has now gone one step further and has extended its marketing to young children. The company commissioned an illustrator to produce a hidden object book depicting the cheerful hustle and bustle of a chemicals factory: crane drivers, divers, visitors from all over the world, clowns and colourful balloons (see details atwww.cbgnetwork.org/6484.html). CURRENTA is currently distributing the book in the vicinity of the German BAYER sites. For example, the book was given to kindergartens at Christmas.
Philipp Mimkes from the Coalition against Bayer Dangers: “It is a scandal that CURRENTA and BAYER are invading the sheltered kindergarten environment. Young children cannot understand the risks of chemical factories and are defenseless against this corporate propaganda. We´re demanding an effective ban on all forms of advertising in educational establishments.” The Coalition has introduced a countermotion to the upcoming BAYER shareholder meeting.
extract from Currenta/Bayer “hidden object book”
Thimo Schmitt-Lord from the BAYER Science & Education Foundation freely admits that the company is not driven by altruistic motives. “I have to admit that our support for schools is not entirely altruistic. We view it as a long-term investment.”
Norbert Hocke, a member of the board of the German teaching union GEW, also criticized BAYER’s marketing: “This book does not belong in a kindergarten. It is high time we had regulations for dealing with advertising.” Especially in light of current results of brain research, he views BAYER’s propaganda critically: “We must be especially careful with children aged between nought and six years. The frequent repetition of company logos stays in their heads for a lifetime. Later on, we wonder why and complain that children are so focused on brands.”
Across Germany, educational establishments are increasingly being used for opinion-making. Service providers like the Deutsche Schulmarketing Agentur, an agency which by its own admission “aims to align the economic interests of commercial companies with educational establishments” shamelessly promotes the commercialization of teaching content. Values such as independent opinion or critical abilities are thus being undermined.
