2008 Woodie Awards
Planetarium need not be branded
The Opinion of the La Voz Weekly Editorial Board
Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: Editorial
The renaming of De Anza College's resident planetarium after a corporation in exchange for a large sum of money serves the corporation first and De Anza students second.
The name change reflects poorly upon us as a community, perhaps demonstrating our willingness to forego naming our monuments after our more revered leaders, and instead favoring the name of the highest bidder.
By allowing the change, have we become just another baseball stadium, lowering ourselves to billboard-like status?
Corporations have long tried to integrate their namesakes with nature in an attempt to make people feel more comfortable with seeing their trademarks every day. This in turn may make the consumer more likely to choose that company's products over dozens of other like products on the same shelf due to a feeling of familiarity with the company name - or so it is hoped in the business world.
Thus corporations are willing to pay extraordinary amounts for the right to put their names on stadiums, parks, rooftops and now school buildings.
Would Bay Area residents prefer to abandon higher education to the whim of corporate moguls?
The day may be approaching that we live, breathe and with every waking thought encounter in some way the trademarked names of corporations and those companies' products.
Product placement now looms over everything we see in our day-to-day lives; naming our buildings after companies is just another step further in that direction.
So what's in a name? The planetarium was once named Minolta after a Japanese camera company. So it is true that this is nothing new, however this is still no reason to follow bad precedent.
In doing so, we have given away a portion of our daily interaction with the world, a memorable part of our surroundings. The name of the corporation involved will be talked about always, mentioned in passing everywhere. It will appear in photographs of the campus for decades. Even class listings will serve as advertisements.
This is not an indictment of business, as only a weak argument can be made that tries to place any moral guilt on a company just for attempting to spread its own name.
No, this is a moment to reflect upon our own actions, specifically the practice of renaming our buildings after corporate trademarks for money.
That money will be used for the benefit of De Anza students, but there are many ways a school can be funded; that we must rely on businesses for our betterment is unfortunate.
The name change reflects poorly upon us as a community, perhaps demonstrating our willingness to forego naming our monuments after our more revered leaders, and instead favoring the name of the highest bidder.
By allowing the change, have we become just another baseball stadium, lowering ourselves to billboard-like status?
Corporations have long tried to integrate their namesakes with nature in an attempt to make people feel more comfortable with seeing their trademarks every day. This in turn may make the consumer more likely to choose that company's products over dozens of other like products on the same shelf due to a feeling of familiarity with the company name - or so it is hoped in the business world.
Thus corporations are willing to pay extraordinary amounts for the right to put their names on stadiums, parks, rooftops and now school buildings.
Would Bay Area residents prefer to abandon higher education to the whim of corporate moguls?
The day may be approaching that we live, breathe and with every waking thought encounter in some way the trademarked names of corporations and those companies' products.
Product placement now looms over everything we see in our day-to-day lives; naming our buildings after companies is just another step further in that direction.
So what's in a name? The planetarium was once named Minolta after a Japanese camera company. So it is true that this is nothing new, however this is still no reason to follow bad precedent.
In doing so, we have given away a portion of our daily interaction with the world, a memorable part of our surroundings. The name of the corporation involved will be talked about always, mentioned in passing everywhere. It will appear in photographs of the campus for decades. Even class listings will serve as advertisements.
This is not an indictment of business, as only a weak argument can be made that tries to place any moral guilt on a company just for attempting to spread its own name.
No, this is a moment to reflect upon our own actions, specifically the practice of renaming our buildings after corporate trademarks for money.
That money will be used for the benefit of De Anza students, but there are many ways a school can be funded; that we must rely on businesses for our betterment is unfortunate.
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