You know who makes a great advertising shill? A Kindergartener. Gargh.

[anonomom]

DD gets off the bus today, all excited: "Mom, MOM! Guess what? I can get SPY GLASSES!! All you have to do is fill out some papers. Will you, please?"

I said I'd have to take a look at what she was talking about. Turns out the school is trying to get free magazines, so it's sent home a booklet of postcards to each family. We're supposed to fill them in with the names and addresses of seven friends and family members (not allowed to send them to other kids in the school), then send them back to school so that the publishing company can use them to send magazine solitications to our friends and family.

Now I'm used to vaguely sneaky fundraising efforts -- the photos and magnets and yearbooks that are sent home with DD, already personalized, with instructions either to send money or send the product back. We finally just had to explain to DD that we aren't going to buy everything that's sent home.

But this seems to me to be taking a giant leap over the line. Not only are they asking families to provide addresses of their friends & family so a company can send them advertising, but we're also instructed to make it look like a personal note, complete with at least one "P.S." And they're promising six-year-olds toys for doing so.

Of course I said no and explained why, but DD is all upset. She thinks she'll be the only kid who doesn't get spy glasses. I told her I can't imagine anyone actually doing this.

Now I know all I have to do is say "no" to this trash, but frankly it offends me that I have to. What on earth is the school thinking, asking children to provide addresses for advertising solicitations?

[Ceepa]

I would take this up with the PTA or whomever decided this was a good idea. It's outrageous and I would be embarrassed for anyone to receive mail from my family using a low-level scheme to sell magazines.

[doberbrat]

W.O.W. !! Talk about crossing a line!

Its icky on so many levels!

[niccig]

I would take this up with the PTA or whomever decided this was a good idea. It's outrageous and I would be embarrassed for anyone to receive mail from my family using a low-level scheme to sell magazines.

:yeahthat: I'll be making a complaint about encouraging you to disclose private information about your family and friends as a fundraiser.

[swissair81]

The Spring pictures my kids' school sends home hoping to get money from me irritates me to no end. This is just beyond the pale. I would definitely complain.

[elephantmeg]

I would be appalled too. I have a K too and he would be so excited about the (prob crappy) spy glasses. That is a terrible thing to do to a kid.

[kijip]

That is awful. Terrible fundraiser too because the school likely gets just a tiny amount per subscription sold.

[kijip]

I would send them back with absurd addresses and snarky notes on the postcards.

[wellyes]

I would send them back with absurd addresses and snarky notes on the postcards.

Love this. Abraham Lincoln, address: dirt nap road. Justin Timberlake, address: Nsync ave. Hillary Clinton, address: airforceone st.

Complain, that is awful.

[KHF]

My DD's elementary school did this last year too (she was also in K). Their prize was a Scooby Doo t-shirt. I bought her a Scooby Doo t-shirt and the address forms from the school went into the trash.

I don't sell things. I donate my time (webmaster for the PTO), my money through direct donation, clip BoxTops and I'm involved in many school functions. I do.not.sell. though. Ever.

[anonomom]

My initial impulse was to complain, but DH thinks it's better not to be the squeaky wheel. I should have sent in fake addresses.

[DietCokeLover]

That is unbelievable. I would be so annoyed if I was one of the 7 friends who got sold out for a couple of dollars.

Wow.

[ahisma]

My DD's elementary school did this last year too (she was also in K). Their prize was a Scooby Doo t-shirt. I bought her a Scooby Doo t-shirt and the address forms from the school went into the trash.

I don't sell things. I donate my time (webmaster for the PTO), my money through direct donation, clip BoxTops and I'm involved in many school functions. I do.not.sell. though. Ever.

Ditto. We used to buy DD the prize and scrap the sales material. We did that.

Now, the school is DONE selling - finally! They do a walk at the end of the year and kids collect donations from family - no sales. LOVE it.

[ahisma]

My DD's elementary school did this last year too (she was also in K). Their prize was a Scooby Doo t-shirt. I bought her a Scooby Doo t-shirt and the address forms from the school went into the trash.

I don't sell things. I donate my time (webmaster for the PTO), my money through direct donation, clip BoxTops and I'm involved in many school functions. I do.not.sell. though. Ever.

Ditto. We used to buy DD the prize and scrap the sales material. You can usually direct donate to the school / PTA instead. We did that.

Now, the school is DONE selling - finally! They do a walk at the end of the year and kids collect donations from family - no sales. LOVE it.

[jal]

...Now I'm used to vaguely sneaky fundraising efforts -- the photos and magnets and yearbooks that are sent home with DD, already personalized, with instructions either to send money or send the product back...

That's the type of fund raiser that already gets my goat. I absolutely detest this (what do you mean I have DO something to avoid purchasing your product?)

No where else in America can a company legally send you an unsolicited product and demand money or the return of the product (they have to have gotten your consent - express or implied).

[klwa]

DS's school did that one this year & has in the past as well. How do I know? Because DNiece is there & I get the fundraising forms from her. DS's got chunked in the trashcan.

[cheri]

DDs school did that one this year. Straight into the trashcan. Grrrr.

[glbb35]

Wow, what a terrible thing to do to the Kindergartener and the parent! It is like they use the tactic that by making the parent look bad to the child you will cave and just do it. Awful. I too hate things like this. And the prizes are so tacky and end up in the trash. The worse part abut it for me is the amount of quality school time spent on this. I mean we are using our kids to get stuff for the school for their "educational value", yet wasting precious school time for this. As a former teacher I hated loosing yet more time out of the day on something like this.

Our school this year is doing a fall fundraiser through the PTA which is a one time fee for families. The $ amount was high so I just did the regular sign up. But many more parents were happy not to have a fundraiser so they gave big bucks. The school quickly ended up with a decent amount of money from this and at least for this year we didn't have any extra selling. They did a "carnival" in the spring which was actually kind of fun and a good fundraiser since all the prizes and some of the food were donated. And of course spring pictures. Spring is the only time you can get the class picture and it is voluntary. In the fall you either order ahead of time or don't get any pictures. Our spring pictures were great and better than the fall so I did order a few.

I would definitely complain to anyone who will listen about being upset that valuable teachable time is being spent ramming a terrible toy down a child's throat and making them feel guilty instead of showing them the real value of $ and other subjects.

B

DS 03, 06, twins 09 and baby 7/11