ln, some countries, fast food restaurants, and money to schools to promote their products.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

ln, some countries, fast food restaurants, and money lo schools |o promote their products. Do positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:-

ln the highly competitive era of today, marketers such as restaurants and supermarkets have realized the marketing opportunity offered by schools and so are giving money to schools. Even though the administrators of schools are using that money to raise funds for school activities, this is disadvantageous for school children.

To begin with, adverts for fast foods and their availability within school premises would help to develop children’s taste for such foods. This can increase problems like obesity, which in turn is the root cause of many other health issues among children. As it is, children today have sedentary lifestyles, which makes it imperative that healthier food options should be made available to them. The welfare of students should be the top priority of schools and they should not fall on the bait of these companies for monetary benefits.

Secondly, such commercial intrusions within the academic environment can promote consumerism. For instance, if schools promote advertisements of any products like toys or computer games from supermarkets through educational materials, billboards, or school television, children would think that they have the approval of teachers and school authorities. Consequently, these vulnerable children pester their parents to buy those products, which can upset the family budget. This is a very vivid example of how the commercialization of schools can promote materialism in children.

Model Answer 2:-

Some schools believe that they can profit from fast food outlets and supermarkets just offering their products in schools. In my opinion, this statement has both positive and negative consequences and I tend to believe that it can affect both negatively and positively for several reasons.

When fast-food courts and markets offer their food in schools, schools can benefit from them gaining some amount of money investing in school development and creating facilities for schools such as building a gym, new rooms for learning, buying computers, gadgets, refreshing library, gaining new books and hiring qualified teachers for pupils. Indeed teachers naturally will teach them with contemporary and advanced methods in that case. This investment presumably will promote children’s progress during studying in school and they will have a much more competitive advantage than other pupils. Furthermore, supermarkets providing their foods in schools can advertise their goods, attract new customers and create new workplaces for people.

Nowadays the majority of fast-food courts and supermarkets offer unhealthy packed and junk food which is an ever-increasing problem and extremely harmful for people. Fast food outlets and supermarkets distributing those kinds of products to schools will presumably affect pupils’ health generating diseases which will influence their health in the future. Hence, the government should define the list of goods that must be distributed to schools and do not contain harmful organisms in foods.
In conclusion, the health of children is the most important aspect and far-reaching problem, therefore the decision which one is important, the health of children or investment for children, must be comprehensively discussed.

Model Answer 3:-

With the tremendous growth of fast-food cafes and malls, there has also been a trend to include the schools in the promotion of their products. Some opine that the schools enjoy the profit from them while others argue that the schools should be kept free from them. I, however, believe that there are probably equal pros and cons.

On the one hand, the economic standards of the schools will be uplifted by their collaboration with restaurants and supermarkets. This is because these companies, in exchange for their promotional activities, offer commissions to the school administration which can be utilized in improving the infrastructures, providing scholarships to the needy ones, subsidizing the tuition fees, etc. consequently, the students will be in advantage.

On the other hand, there might be serious negative consequences. Firstly, the precious time of students which is to be utilized in mastering the academic subjects will be taken up by the corporate advertisements. Secondly, the school administration can rarely ensure that the products of these companies are beneficial for the kids and finally, these kinds of activities might lure the young brains into buying extravagant items and put pressure on the parents to buy them. For example, once in my brother’s school, a company came to promote an encyclopedia worth $800 which compelled my parents to spend that high amount although we already had one.

In conclusion, allowing commercial promotions in the schools can benefit them financially as well as impose negative impacts on pupils. Thus, the school authority ought to make careful decisions on allowing them.