Deceptive use of English
The foreign-owned Coca Cola Amatil company which markets tobacco and Coca Cola must be pleased with the two items which Peninsula News published on its education page on November 30: an advertisement for Umina's Finest Tobacconist and a newsletter by the principal of Woy Woy Public School, Ms Oma Buckley, about some building projects at the school.
Ms Buckley gave primacy to the Cola in her 300 word report.
She dropped the magic word prominently twice in the first two paragraphs.
By 'cola' she means the shelter in the playground named in Gosford Council's development approval as a Covered Outdoor Learning Area.
Gosford Council happily allowed Coca Cola's multimillion dollar advertising man, John Singleton, to sell the naming rights of the multimillion dollar Gosford Stadium to the Coca Cola Brewery, but who has the right to sell the naming rights of land in a public school?
Our children deserve the best education money can buy but should they be used as a captive audience for subliminal commercial advertising by deceptive use of the English language.
Ms Buckley's word 'cola' will appear 28,000 times in the Peninsula News.
Can kids be coerced into repeating parrot fashion, "the words of one who kneels" or may they call a spade, a spade?
Letter, 10 Dec 2009
John Collins, Woy Woy