“Just Do It” has been a familiar Nike slogan for more than 25 years, but some parents are wondering what it was doing on some of New York’s Common Core standardized English tests.
Brands including Barbie, iPod, Mug Root Beer and Life Savers showed up on the tests that more than a million students in grades 3 through 8 took this month, leading to speculation it was some form of advertising.
New York state education officials and the test publisher say the brand references were not paid product placement but just happened to be contained in previously published passages selected for the tests.
Critics weren’t so sure and questioned why brand names would be mentioned at all.
“It just seems so unnecessary,” said Josh Golin, associate director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which monitors marketing directed at kids.
The test questions have not been made public, but teachers posting anonymously on education blogs have complained that the brand names and their accompanying trademark symbols were confusing.
Sam Pirozzolo, whose fifth-grader encountered the Nike question about risk-taking, felt the mention was completely unnecessary.
“I’m sure they could have used a historical figure who took risks and invented things,” Pirozzolo said.