Scouts Criticized as Human Billboards: An American...
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Scouts Criticized as Human Billboards: An American consumer group criticized Britain’s Boy Scouts for raising money by weaving sponsorship advertising onto merit badges. The Washington-based Center for the Study of Commercialism said it wrote to Britain’s Scout leaders asking that they review, and reverse, a policy to convert Scouts into “human hoardings (billboards).” Britain’s Scouts have sold companies the right to dot badges awarded for various skills with advertising logos for up to $100,000, an idea rejected by U.S. Boy Scouts.