Could advertising move into the training environment?

This is a guest post by Greg Moriarty.

Advertising is everywhere, advertising gets everywhere. But I think as trainers we are quite lucky. The training room seems to have escaped the spread of marketing.

Advertisers will look for any surface and cover it with an advert. One ingenious concept involves placing long posters in underground train tunnels; posters which when viewed from a speeding train have the appearance and motion of a commercial. Watch the YouTube clip below on motion posters.

There are also stories of large multinationals sponsoring US schools in exchange for in-class promotions.

But is there an invisible line at the threshold of the VET training room that even marketing executives are reluctant to cross? That’s definitely been my experience and it’s reassuring to see it – the plain walls of the training room that allow a learning environment to thrive.

Imagine a world where the trainer turns to write on the whiteboard and instead of the back of their shirt, we get a flashing sign advertising forthcoming courses with large group discounts. Or an institute that encourages correcting work with a Nike “Swoosh” instead of a tick.

Given the e-learning revolution, I doubt if the same will hold true for the virtual classroom. The side panels of a webpage are ideal advertising space – peripheral and seemingly unobtrusive.

What are your thoughts? Are we lucky? Will e-learning environments be less fortunate? Any other ridiculous suggestions for training room advertising?