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Commercialism appears to be alive and well, in society at large and in schools. In 2007, we see a marketing environment that recognizes few boundaries. Advertisers ply their trade wherever they can and even engage consumers as collaborators in their marketing strategies. This "total environment" of marketing is enabled in part by new technologies that allow advertisements to appear in places they could not have been before, such as video games, social networking websites, and cell phones. It is also the result of greater cultural acceptance of marketing as an everyday fact of life, a friendly political environment, and a willingness on the part of marketers and advertisers to breach boundaries that previously limited their activities. Whereas, for example, there used to be a clear boundary between "editorial content" (e.g., television programming, magazine articles, or school curricula) and advertisements, we now see the judges on American Idol sipping from Coca-Cola cups, the debonair cavemen from Geico commercials starring in their own television program, and Disney Publishing providing comics to schools for a reading program.

The Sixteenth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercializing Trends finds that, in a context of fierce corporate opposition to regulation, lack of concern in the education sector about commercialism, and a general assumption by stakeholders that school participation in marketing programs is a constructive way to raise money little state or federal legislation related to school commercialism was signed into law in 2012 or 2013. Advocacy groups within the United States and internationally are, however, increasingly aware of the threats that marketing programs pose to children, especially in the areas of nutrition and privacy. The report outlines the threats that commercializing activities in schools pose to the health and well-being of students and to the integrity of schools' educational programs, and recommends that policymakers ban them outright unless an independent entity certifies that a proposed commercializing activity will cause no harm to children or otherwise undermine the quality of their education.