To Advertisers On RMT

 Template letter promised

DD/MM/YY

Dear Name of Vice President for Marketing,

           

            I am a teacher in a community with many gifts and many needs.  Many years ago, I was asked by my principal to teach a class of students who experienced many social difficulties.  Unfortunately, one of those students was a very angry young man who had intense feelings of rage towards females in positions of authority and persons of colour.  This young man began to obsess and fixate on me to the point where he would stalk me and post swastikas on my classroom door. The Hate Crimes unit of the police department became involved and the student was seriously cautioned.

            At about the same time the website “Rate My Teacher” was created.  This website became a vehicle through which this student could express and post intense feelings of hatred towards me.  Knowing how disturbed this student was, I believe that he, in fact, was the moderator of the site and continued to generate his particular breed of hate against me for a number of years and provide a forum for others to do the same.

             And, it is for this reason that I writing to ask _________Company of Canada to remove its advertising sponsorship of this site.   I do not believe that  Ford would knowingly sponsor a website which encourages people to make anonymous racist comments like “y don’t u just go back to where you came from b****” or  “insert other comment” let alone post the corporate logo beneath them. As your approach to marketing is one that presents an image of integrity and corporate responsibility, I think that we can agree that the type of thinking this web site generates and cultivates none of these.

And, if you were to multiply my experience by the many other teachers in North America who have been unfairly maligned on this site, many of whom are your customers, I think you would find that your corporate images suffers more than it benefits by advertising on “Rate My Teachers”. Although I have personally requested for my name to be removed from this web site, “Rate My Teachers” has refused to do so. 

Secondly, to put it mildly, insert name of company yields a great deal of power through its advertising budget.    Perhaps I am extremely naive, however I believe that this is really a wonderful opportunity for your company to be an incredible force of change. 

I realize that, despite their claims to the contrary, I am a means through which this website can generate more revenue. Should you choose to withdraw your sponsorship of the site, please inform “Rate My Teachers” of your concerns.  At the very least, please encourage “Rate My Teachers” to re-consider the intent of the work that they do.  In a world where people feel