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Lou Gelfand: Selling the rights to a name comes at a cost
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In these difficult times, public institutions often must negotiate slippery slopes to remain solvent. But the toughest task of all might be the collection of private dollars for public good. Especially when naming rights are involved.
Granted, the idea of corporations plastering their names on public offices is nothing new. Long before we had naming rights we had entire cities named after corporations. You wouldn't have to travel any farther than Kohler, Wis., to figure that out. The town was founded in 1912 by the Kohler Co.
These days, corporations attach themselves to public buildings with increasing ease. Building costs are rising as precipitously as public money is evaporating. In a perfect world, it is easy to see the pitfalls of naming, for example, a university football stadium after a bank. Banks do not necessarily abide by the same principles espoused by institutions of higher learning. But private money, even with its baggage, can do public good.
So where to draw the line?
The latest example of this dilemma comes in Columbus, Ohio, where clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has donated $10 million to a children's hospital.
It should be noted that the hospital itself is already beginning to resemble a NASCAR event. The hospital, Nationwide Children's, is named after Nationwide Insurance, which underwrote the institution to the tune of $50 million.
Cleverly, the hospital argues it didn't sell naming rights; it merely renamed itself in sheer gratitude.
That argument didn't sway a coalition of children's advocates, who called it 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. A company with a long history of undermining children's well-being is now linked with healing."
But it's pretty tough, after all, to turn down money that can help treat sick children.
Anyway, Abercrombie & Fitch says its ads are simply "playful and celebratory of the free spirit of today's young Americans."
As my "look" doesn't typically incorporate the playful spirit of young Americans, I took a field trip to Southdale to see for myself.
A few paces inside the store, I was confronted by a huge poster of a muscular stud, shirtless and, I suppose, playful. Whatever he was selling didn't seem to be on the shelves.
I cut through the adjoining Macy's store to get to the parking lot, and found myself staring at a poster of a young man wearing a condensed version of swimming trunks.
Macy's can relax. Unless, of course, it decides to donate a few million bucks to a hospital trauma center.
Lou Gelfand • lgelfand@startribune.com
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