In a message dated 00-12-19 13:00:04 EST, Grace Seiberling writes:

<<         I wonder to what extent this actually is the policy of museums.
 Corporations seem to want their logo on the entrance wall of exhibitions,
 and obviously benefit if their products are on display along with
 other objects in the museum. If the product has a reasonable connection
 to the theme of the exhibition, how do you decide what kind of placement
 and prominence a sponsors' product will have?
         Do institutions have guidelines on such things, or are they
 subject to negotiation on a case-by-case basis? >>

This is exactly my point--there SHOULD be museum guidelines to prevent an
appearance of conflict of interest or of selling out to commercial entities.
At the same time, of course, each case should be evaluated on its own merits.
 Corporate logos seek to establish name recognition for advertising purposes,
so they should be shunned, IMHO, in a museum context.  Donors should be given
appropriate credit--but in the same typeface as the remainder of the label, I
believe, because special logos connote advertising.  Obviously, mere mention
of a well-known company as a donor and/or displaying its products represents
a type of advertising in itself, the effect of which is unavoidable, but
there's no need to overdo it.  Company logos connote commercialism.

As a corollary, those with long memories may recall that this ties in with my
previous comments in favor of giving all donors credit in exhibitions as a
general practice--then the museum can't be accused of giving preferential
treatment (and advertising) only to wealthy donors and big corporations.
Give credit where credit is due, but no more.

The use of company logos on entrance panels, it seems to me, is tasteless and
unnecessary.  In one especially egregious example within recent memory, an
exhibition's funder not only got its logo on an entrance panel, but in
strategic locations throughout the exhibition--I counted several dozen
occurrences. A newspaper critic noticed too and took the museum to task for
it in his review, complete with a satirical, punning headline.  Museums would
be well advised to avoid risking that kind of ridicule and loss of
credibility.

David Haberstich

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