The next big corporate takeover will be of our children’s minds
As he wasn't exactly an everyday sight, I agreed. I took him into a well-known eating establishment and ordered two cups of tea.
Then he reached into his briefcase and placed a laptop computer on the table! "Bloody hell!," I thought; "he doesn't look the educated type to me. He's more like some biblical prophet. What's he doing with a lappy?"
Let's call him Mick. In a soft, middle Irish accent, he asked me if I was aware of a plan for "a corporate takeover of the world".
"Jeez!" I replied, "what, a real, secret takeover, like the ones in the films?"
"Yes," he said, "and what's more they are targeting kids; it won't be long before they come to Ireland. They have already captured the US and the UK."
I gulped a large mouthful of tea which tasted like hot water because I'd forgotten to include a tea bag.
Mick explained: "A world famous deep fat fryer has produced packs which ask children to find names of the company's products in a word puzzle, to choose matching images of its French fries and milk shakes, and to compose a song entitled Old Mc***** Had A Store. Mick paused, and as he looked over my shoulder the colour drained from his face: "I have to go. They've found me! They've found me!" He grabbed his laptop and ran out the side door.
Two men one resembled the famous head fryer and the other looked like the cockerel on a cornflakes box walked into the restaurant, looked around and then left hurriedly. Then I noticed that Mick had left a book behind. It was the manifesto of the American Round Table of Industrialists, and it began:
"The provision of education is a market opportunity and should be treated as such. Schooling is a commodity, widely traced on the stock market, and worth in excess of 650 billion dollars. There are many ways of making money from education, but the most widespread is the use of school as an advertising medium. It is a lucrative business. Advertising easily sways children, and in schools they are, of course, a captive market. The kids that we are reaching are consumers in training."
Come back, Mick, all is forgiven. You are truly a prophet.
Anthony Woods,
5, Marian Avenue,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
