We got the idea for this
article after running across a rather odd news story about a High School in Evans Georgia.
Apparently, the
officials of Greenbrier High School thought it a good idea to participate in a "Coke in
Education Day" promotion. The promotion was a contest to see which school could stage
the best public relations campaign for the Coke-Cola company. The prize was a check for
$500. A couple of the activities included students lining up to spell out the words
"Coke" and chemistry classes analyzing the sugar content of a typical can of the
refreshing soft drink. (All this was done, by the way, during school hours and paid for by
tax dollars.)
What got the media's
attention, and ours, was the fact that one student, a boy named Mike Cameron, (pictured to
the left) decided to wear a Pepsi T-Shirt to school that day. After this fact was brought
to the attention of school officials, he was immediately suspended.
| Here is the article
which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor (scroll down to the "Etceteras"
part of the page) Here also
is the transcript of the
Associate Press article. |
Besides being a clear violation
of free speech, it also paints a pathetic picture of a high school selling out to a
billion-dollar corporation all in the hope of receiving some petty cash.
So, never above exploiting
those whom are willing to be exploited, we thought it might be a good idea to contact the
school and see if they could help us in generating some public relations. We sent a
certified letter below to Gloria Hamilton, the principal of the school responsible for
suspending Mike, seeing if we couldn't cash in on the "Sell Out" bandwagon:
Greenbrier High School
5114 Riverwood Parkway
Evans, GA 30809
Attn: Gloria Hamilton
Dear: Gloria
My name is Michael Page and I am an editor
of a magazine called "Fade to Black". It has come to my attention the great
amount of publicity received after your suspension of Mr. Michael Cameron for wearing a
Pepsi T-shirt during your school sponsored Coca-Cola schmooze day. Our magazine would be
interested in donating money to your school in exchange for some public relations as well.
We understand that Coca-Cola offered you a chance to win $500 for a picture of your
students lined up to spell our the word "Coke", our magazine would like to offer
your school the following options for a similar picture: We will pay you
$250 (two hundred and fifty dollars) to spell out the words
"www.fadetoblack.com" with at least 100 students.
$73 (seventy
three dollars) for you to spell out the words "F2B" with at least 50 students
$40.25 (Forty
dollars and twenty five cents) for students to lineup and paint the letters
"www.fadetoblack.com" on their chests like you often see on football games, with
each person representing each letter.
$60.13 (sixty dollars
and thirteen cents) for your faculty to paint www.fadetoblack.com on their chests.
Selecting one of the options above,
automatically qualifies you for our "Corporate Sellout" contest, with a prize
cash equaling $125 (one hundred and twenty five dollars.) The rules of the contest
are as follows: we are looking for the most creative way a principal of a publicly
run school can suck up to a corporate conglomerate. Although I am not allowed to go into
detail, I will say that your suppressing students free speech in fear of offending a
corporation definitely puts you on top of the list.
Please let us know which option will work
best for you. And just to show you that we are serious we included a money order for $25.
Thanks you for your time, looking forward to
your reply.
Sincerely,
Michael Page
Editor Fade to Black
F2b@fadetoblack.com
|
This receipt
acknowledging that our letter was indeed received and signed for by "Julie
Carter" in Greenbrier High School.
After waiting
over 2 weeks with no response we made a call to Greenbrier High School to speak to Gloria
directly. Our call on April 22 was not returned, neither was the one on April 23. We
finally got in touch the principal of Greenbrier High School on April 27th. Unfortunately,
our idea was not received as warmly as we had hoped. Below is the transcript of our
conversation:
Greenbrier High may I help you?
Gloria
Hamilton please.
Hold on please
Thanks.
(On hold for about 10 seconds)
Hello.
May I speak
with Gloria please?
This is she
Hi Gloria, this is Michael Page from Fade to
Black Magazine.
From what?
Fade to Black
Magazine.
Yes
I am
contacting you in reference to the letter we sent, we are interested in publicity for our
magazine.
(Pause) I have no interest
in talking to you or your magazine!
Why aren't you
interested?
Uh ... because I
don't like your sarcastic attitude, I don't like your negative attitude, I don't like
anything about the tone of the letter. I am sorry I don't need that kind of stuff nor does
my school.
But why did
you do the same thing for Coke?
That had nothing to do with
anything. You picked up on a story you saw in the media. And I am sorry you have no
consideration of the twelve hundred and thirty students that are in this building. And the
school and what they did. (uncomfortable pause.) So no we don't sell out to anybody, we
can't be bought, that was not the purpose for any of it. So I am sorry I don't care to
talk with you.
So what did
you do with the money we sent?
The money you sent was put
in the Student Council Fund.
(Another rather long uncomfortable pause.)
: Hmm...(pause
) Okay we'll make it $275
I don't care to talk to you
thank you.
(Click)
Once again our idea was not
received quite the way we hoped. Gloria's response automatically disqualified her from our
"Corporate Sellout Contest" and the $250 we offered. We think the $250
could have gone a long way in purchasing books, pens, metal detectors and other well
needed school necessities, but unfortunately, the Greenbrier High School would rather
sellout to multibillion dollar corporations instead.
Due to our lack of success
with Greenbrier High we decided to open up our offer to any school, club, organization,
bowling team, Bible Study group etc. Here are the rules again:
- We will pay you $250 (two
hundred and fifty dollars) to spell out the words "www.fadetoblack.com" with at
least 100 people.
- $73 (seventy three dollars)
for you to spell out the words "F2B" with at least 50 people.
- $40.25 (Forty dollars and
twenty five cents) for students to lineup and paint the letters
"www.fadetoblack.com" on their chests like you often see on football games, with
each person representing each letter.
So
now you too can make money
for your organization or group and produce some well deserved publicity for us. So what
are you waiting for? Selling out has never been this fun! Plus we'll put your pictures
online.
If you are interested, drop us an
email for official instructions and rules.
Return to
