The Toronto Star Reports For the past several months, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., one of the country’s largest publishers of university textbooks, has been quietly trying to coax companies into buying advertising space in their texts.
“Reach a hard to get target group where they spend all their parents’ money,” says a McGraw-Hill brochure touting its planned ads. “Do you really think 18-24 year olds see those on-campus magazine ads? Do you really think they could miss an ad that is placed in a very well-respected textbook?”
McGraw-Hill isn’t the first company that has coveted school-aged consumers and their parents.
Procter & Gamble is trying to lure Grade 5 American students by presenting a number of schools with a package of reading materials, a video and product samples that include an Old Spice deodorant stick for boys and a Secret stick, plus Always maxi-pads, for girls.
Ads in college textbooks
As a college librarian, I can tell you that putting ads in textbooks is a horrible idea for the advertisers. Their ads will never even see the light of day.