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Hypocrisy in hospital naming rights

If baseball fields can name their stadiums after corporate sponsors who send millions in naming rights their way, why not hospitals? An Ohio hospital renamed itself Nationwide Children???s Hospital when the insurance company Nationwide wrote a $50 million cheque. They also named the lobby after two retailers who sent in seven figures. And now they’re offering the name of its emergency and trauma unit to Abercrombie & Fitch, the sexualized clothier who’s paying $10 million for the privilege.

And though the gift might go a long way toward improving the health of children, plenty of outspoken groups are furious the hospital would sell itself to a company many think is a glorified child porn ring. Some 15 organizations don’t want the unit named after a company who has shirtless male models, who might still be in high school, greet store customers, or a company who began re-publishing its quarterly magazine that sells apparel with models who don’t wear any.

Nevermind that UCLA named its children’s hospital after toy company Mattel, and Rhode Island Hospital slapped Hasbro’s name on its own kids’ unit; nobody cried foul there. Of course it was Mattel who had to recall nine million Chinese-made toys that contain lead and magnets that could harm children if swallowed. Good thing they have their own children’s hospital.

Mar 12, 2008 · Link · 1 Response