Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

British Colleges Selling Screen Saver Ad Space

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the jwz-gets-one-upped dept.

gotroot801 writes: "The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that eighteen British institutions plan to generate income during the coming academic year by displaying advertisements on the computer screen savers of students, professors, and staff members. Why does this remind me of that Simpsons episode where Troy McClure is teaching a Pepsi-sponsored class?"

3 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. excellent by BenHmm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cultural note, people. British universities are effectively free - government funded - with comparitively tiny student fees, if any at all. Their alumni associations are small, and don't raise anything like the amounts their US counterparts do.

    So...

    They need the money, advertisers think it's a good idea, and students won't notice it after a week or two (even if they had cash to spend, which most don't).

    Sounds like, Win/Win/Win to me, especially if the money goes on more books, computers or teaching staff.

  2. Re:Good luck! by Moonshadow · · Score: 3, Informative

    Time to install a little tool known as the Proxomitron. Haven't seen an X10 ad in ages :)

  3. Oh, you mean Cambridge... by Chris.Boyle · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www-building.arct.cam.ac.uk/westc/cl/cl.htm l

    The new CompSci building is partly funded by Microsoft, who are also putting an MS Research building on the site.

    I'll hopefully be studying there soon, and _AFAIK_ it won't make any difference who it was funded by, though it does make me shudder slightly to think I'll be studying in the "William H Gates building".