State education departments around Australia have told Crikey private corporations like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, are not restricted from advertising their products to children inside classrooms.

Recently Crikey reported that global health giant Johnson & Johnson was advertising its tampons, toothbrushes and sanitary pads in a resource book called BodyWhys, distributed to more than 130 schools.

Following subsequent media coverage, Johnson & Johnson is now planning to remove all branded advertising of products from any future versions of the school book. A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson Pacific told Crikey the current version was “complete.”

However, after contacting education departments in every state and territory, the consistent response is that it’s up to schools to decide what resources they use.

When asked about policies on whether corporations could advertise in books used in schools, most Australian educational authorities did not have any restrictions.

In the United States there’ve been many controversial examples of corporations active in the classroom: Coca-Cola famously signed a long-term school vending machine deal; an oil company sponsored a “critical thinking” lesson plan; and the plastics industry funded an environmental teaching resource.

A spokesperson for the Victorian department said its policies “specifically prohibit the promotion of alcohol, tobacco and gambling products” in schools, but there was nothing to stop companies including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, or Pfizer advertising in resource books, unless they were deemed “offensive” by parents.

The New South Wales Education Minister was enthusiastic about corporate sponsorship, while Queensland did not respond to inquiries.

In the ACT, a spokesperson said “it is possible that a resource from McDonald’s etc could be accepted…” Similarly in South Australia the education department was “not opposed to outside organisations advertising to schools”, as long as the department’s policies were not contradicted.

In Tasmania there appears to be no overall restrictions on advertising by corporations, apart from fast food companies.

Only Western Australia and the Northern Territory did not support corporations advertising directly in schools, but neither was prepared to actively discourage schools using corporate sponsored advertising like that found in Johnson & Johnson’s BodyWhys.

The message to corporations from Australian educational authorities couldn’t be clearer: the captive market of impressionable young consumers sitting in classrooms from Broome to Bondi is yours for the taking.