Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13132

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Publication type: news

Children's Advocates Protest Naming Gift to Ohio Hospital
Philanthropy News Digest 2008 Mar 13
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=207900020

Full text:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, has drawn criticism from a coalition of children’s advocates that contends the hospital went too far in agreeing to name a new emergency department and trauma center after a locally based retailer in exchange for a $10 million donation, the New York Times reports.

The coalition, made up of fifteen organizations and eighty individuals, including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Parents for Ethical Marketing, and several pediatricians, has asked the hospital to reconsider its 2006 decision to name the new center after Abercrombie & Fitch, the youth retailer known for its provocative advertising. The group contends that naming the center after the company would send the wrong message to the community. Groundbreaking for the building is scheduled to take place later this year.

In a letter addressed to five senior officers of the hospital, members of the coalition wrote, “It is troubling that a children’s hospital would name its emergency room after a company that routinely relies on highly sexualized marketing to target teens and preteens….The Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department and Trauma Center marries the Abercrombie brand to your reputation. A company with a long history of undermining children’s well-being is now linked with healing.”

The coalition’s complaint is the latest example of a backlash against the increasingly prevalent practice of naming everything from stadiums and parks to schools and hospitals after corporate sponsors, donors, and supporters. Roughly a dozen hospitals across the country bear corporate or sponsor names – including Nationwide Children’s Hospital itself, which was renamed in recognition of a $50 million gift from Nationwide insurance.

Jon M. Fitzgerald, president of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation, said he preferred to focus on the philanthropic aspect of the Abercrombie & Fitch donation rather than on objections raised in the coalition’s letter. “Two years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch made a very significant philanthropic gift,” he said. “In honor of that gift, we chose to offer recognition of their tremendous support of our organization.”