What is this nation coming to? We have enough logos and sponsorships. National parks are a place to get away from them.
Due to the consistent ratings of Pants On Fire we should call this The Year Of The Whopper.
Paying for our national parks with tax dollars is something I strongly support. But you know what else I strongly support? Paying for lots of things that cannot be funded with corporate sponsorship without risking their success–like scientific research, keeping old people out of poverty, and funding public defenders. Until such time as we convince the rest of America to stop wanting to spend so much money on the military, fix our outrageous medical spending, re-work our bloated an inefficient tax code, etc., allowing recognition for corporate donations to parks seems like a pretty reasonable step when the alternative is having the trash overflow, etc.
The HuffPo article exaggerates what the donors will be able to get for the money. For example, if Michelin buys the park a bunch of buses (score!), they could “include a short, unobtrusive credit line with the donor’s name script and logo” that does not include any “advertising or marketing slogan.”
What about a corporate sponsored military? That could work. A lot of businesses want to support it anyway.
This hellfire missile has been brought to you by Da’Bomb: Final Answer hot sauce. When you want the very hottest, choose Da’Bomb.
SEAL Team Hallmark. “When you care enough to send the very best.”
Rather than further hijacking this thread, here’s one in Thread Games.
Corporate sponsorship of the U.S. Government
The more we are ruled by corporations and the more ad money decides what can exist, the more people forget there has ever been any other way. Who remembers that the city bus used to be the city bus before it became the city billboard? Everyone grows to think it’s normal, everyone grows to imagine that any alternative would somehow be expensive.
Let’s see. I was born in 1950. I’ve never seen a bus without an ad on it. Back in my hometown, a construction company with a marketing genius running things bought up the back panel of every bus in the city. As you drove behind the smelly, belching busses, you would be treated to, in very large letters, the name of said con com: PUGH CONSTRUCTION. We kind of liked it.
Somewhere I read a description of Americans as “consumers.” At one point (possibly in George Washington’s day), we were described as “citizens.” I don’t like the change.