Would you like to save a few hundred dollars each semester by getting your textbooks for free? That may not be so far fetched if some textbook publishers have their way. McGraw-Hill and other publishers are considering including advertising in college textbooks to offset rising costs. Although faculty members are likely to object, the tide may be too strong to hold back once students and parents catch the wave.
Of course textbooks are only the most recent medium to fall under avertisers' spell. Video games, urinals, and even people's foreheads have all been plastered with ads in recent years. For more examples see this flash slideshow from USAToday. We've grown accustomed to ads of every shape and size, for every type of product and service, in every type of environment. And we've grown accustomed to free media content as a result. What do you think, is this a good idea who's time has come? Or is it one more human sacrifice to the god of capitalism?
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13 comments:
I guess I'll play the role as devil's advocate here.
I am a faculty member, but I think this actually may be an idea whose time has come.
College textbooks are expensive. Students are paying a lot for their education. If there's a way we can cut them a break financially, then why not do it?
If the author of the text still gets ample royalties for the work put into researching and writing the text, then advertising might be a (pardon the cliche) "win-win" solution for everyone.
As long as the advertising is clearly marked as such in the texts, and as long as the advertiser doesn't have control over the content of the text, where's the harm?
Textbooks at least can market their product to a consumer. I'm thinking that nonprofits should start figuring out how to use advertising to fund their important social causes. Why can't churches sell some space in the back greeting areas? How about advertising on the walls of the lodge at Boy Scout camp where the kids eat? How about senior citizen centers getting funding for programs by allowing advertisers to communicate with their clients?
Advertising is not some evil force. It's a method by which organizations attempt to send controlled messages to audiences. Certainly college-aged students understand the purpose and the perspective. I say bring it on!
Okay, here's a scenario...how about fast food ads in a Nutritian textbook?
I am with Leticia Steffen. Education is expensive, we as students, spend a lot on tuition, fees, and whatever else. Many textbooks use product pictures already, normally with permission. So the product is already getting a bit of free advertising. Why not let the advertisers pay for a chunk of our books. But, yes...It should be clearly identified as an advertisement. I also think it should be pertinent and ethical. A fast food ad in a nutrition book could be tricky. Nutrition may be a required course for all students, including those that may have some unhealthy eating habits. This could be confusing to some. Overall, yes bring on the ads, but make them clearly marked and make them pertinent.
Posted by Katherine England, student
I think it's a great idea to advertise in textbooks if it means giving books to students for free, or even at a reduced rate. The advertising could even be at the begining or end of the textbooks, so as not to interrupt the material. Textbooks are extremly expensive now and if there is something that can be done to help reduce student's expenses while in college, then I think it should be done.
I feel like advertising in text books is a good thing. I really don't think taking advertising articles or anything advertising out of a book is going to save us students any money. It will be the same cost. However for advertising companies I think they are brilliant for putting there advertisings in textbooks. In todays population there are youth and even adults studying and learning new things. Textbooks are a great way to get there message across. And belive it or not we can learn from each and every advertising article that is found in a textbook
Nikita Orchard
Sounds like a great idea to me! This should have happened a long time ago. Books are expensive and if there is a solution to make them cheaper then I am going to join the bandwagon and support it. Who knows maybe they can coincide the advertising with the subject of the book and then everyone would benefit from this...even the nutrition class.
Robin Romero
I pay for my own books and i would be willing to deal with a few ads in order for text books to be cheaper. I am concerned that the books would have to be reprinted more often because the ads are out of date forcing me to by a new book rather than a used book and I would have to spend more money and have to deal with ads anyway
-Sarah Wolgram
It could be a good idea to advertise in text books, but the problem is the size. Some books are already thick, but are you willing to pay the price of a larger but free book? I, to an extent believe it could be a good idea. But what stops me is the fact of the size increasing. Textbooks are a part of a college investment, one investment that everyone should have. A book is only part of it. You are still going to have to pay for meals and room and board. But does that mean that they make you eat a certain food, or stare at an advertisement to get your food free? Or hang up advertisements in your dorm? Some advertisers go too far to advertise these days to the point that it is entering our personal lives. A possible way to go about this could be make the advertised books optional, I guarantee that they will be large, but they will also be used. I rarely use my textbooks, so I would be a user of the heavier but free advertised books. After all they would be advertising toward our demographics so it wouldn’t hurt to take your eyes off calculus and see an ad for some food every once in a while...
To advertising in textbooks i say, why not! there are advertisements everywhere else around a college campus. There are advertisements in the bookstore, the library, the bulliten boards around the campus, and in the cafeteria. There are already so many different products and advertisements that students see on a daily basis so i say why not. If my family could say thousands of dollars each year(my brother and i both attend CSU-P) then im sure they would say the same exact thing. I remember in my high school planner i had advertisements for pepsi and for local businesses around town so im used to see advertisements in content that has to deal with school. Teachers may think that advertisements might take away from their students actually looking at the text but their are probably more things that would distract them from the class.
That sounds like a really good idea, but I know I am partial to it because I am a student and I buy all of my own textbooks. It really depends what kind of ads are in the books though. It also depends how many advertisements are in the book and where are they at. The cover? The index? All over?It just seems super Americanized to put advertisements all over college textbooks. It just sounds wrong. I want my book for learning purposes, but at the same time I want to save money too.
Joann Babbitt
I strongly, strongly disagree with advertising in textbooks especially and specifically at a college level. In college we are buying books for classes that we specifically choose becaue they will one day relate to our contribution to society. Advertisements in books will of course lower the expenses of these books but at what price? As I see it putting advertisements in books is like selling our own beliefs just so we have to pay a few less dollars for text books that we willingly want to buy for classes we chose. For example if there is an ad for condoms in books sold to female students, advertisers are assuming those females are sexually active or don’t already practice the use of condoms. The assumptions of advertisers are based on unproven stereotypes. So yes the books would be cheaper but then students are getting solicited too by companies who don’t know their consumer and only want to profit.
This is probably the best idea I have come across yet. Students are paying ridiculous amounts to go to school, and the school is trying to charge them amazing amounts of money for a book they will use for 4 months and never look at again. But wait, the school is quick to tell you that you can sell your books back! But you shouldn't expect much, you're lucky to get back 1/4 of what you paid for it. So of course I'm in favor of this. Its not fair to the students, I mean I know kids who just don't buy the book because they can't. I look forward to seeing advertisements in all of my textbooks.
Marcus Hunter- MCCNM 101
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