IN 1993, the iconic corporation known as Coke assured its stockholders that prosperity and consumer captivity were closely related. All of us in the Coca-Cola family wake up each morning knowing that every single one of the world's 5.6 billion people will get thirsty that day. If we make it impossible for these 5.6 billion people to escape Coca-Cola, then we assure our future success for many years to come. (1) If the people in Coke's marketing department had a sense of humor, they would have named the next Coke product Ubiquity. The real thing has become so commonplace that it is almost invisible until its presence becomes particularly offensive, i.e., when its image serves as a backdrop to a tableau of child malnutrition in Africa, or when a crying baby is photographed sucking a bottle filled with dark brown stuff. Of course, this image/message/commodity could just as likely be associated with PepsiCo, Inc. Several years ago, was invited to appear on a television talk show to discuss the commercialization of schools. A puzzled young man called in with an unforgettable question. Well, Miss, he began, I went to a Coke high school, but now I'm at a Pepsi university. So what's the problem? According to my caller, as long as students could buy what they wanted and corporations shared in (or at least took turns at) profiting from them, then the conditions necessary to determine the playing field of the marketplace/school had been met. What point was trying to make? Indeed, unless the purposes of public education and private commerce are distinctly and intentionally different, my point is moot. It is difficult to measure the less tangible aspects of privatization, but logos littering the hallways and secret deals conferring exclusive pouring rights are usefully concrete indicators of the changing culture of schools. A recent research project undertaken by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF), and the Federation des syndicates de l'enseignement (FSE) set out to measure the extent to which elementary and secondary schools across Canada had delivered their students--reluctantly or enthusiastically--over to corporations. (2) Marketing to kids is good business--great business if it has the blessing of schools. In Canada, children between the ages of 9 and 14 control approximately $2.9 billion of their own spending money, and they kidfluence at least $20 billion of their parents' spending. Advertising is expensive. Ensuring that students are routinely and inescapably exposed to a product or at least its logo is smart, cost-effective marketing. If it delivers community good will at the same time, so much the better. The CCPA/CTF/FSE survey relied on voluntary responses, and so its results are indicative rather than definitive. Still, nearly a quarter of all schools responded to a common questionnaire. Of this group, 28% of elementary and 55% of secondary schools reported that advertising appeared in their hallways and cafeterias, on team uniforms, on scoreboards, and on school websites. (3) Twenty-seven percent of responding schools had signed exclusive contracts with Coke or Pepsi, and those doing so were more common at the secondary level (60%) than at the elementary level (19%). Deals were more likely to be consummated in the Prairie provinces, at 40%, than in Quebec, where a mere 5% of schools had signed agreements. Yet sales of soft drinks through school vending machines constitute a very small slice of the global revenue of Coke and Pepsi. Years of brand loyalty, not quick profits, motivate corporations that see themselves as iconic. Starting earlier means profiting longer. By 18 months of age, toddlers can recognize logos and are forming primitive with products and images. (4) Properly nurtured, these relationships can endure for eight or nine decades. Contemporary marketing is all about making and deepening the relationship between customers and their brands. …