Parents in Taicang, Jiangsu Province are angry that their children have become mobile advertisements for a local company by carrying the firm's logo on the back of their school uniforms.

According to Modern Express, a newspaper based in Nanjing, some parents have complained that Taicang Sanfan Clothing Factory, a manufacturer of school uniforms, printed its company logo on the back of uniforms for local primary and middle schools.

The logo is a 28-centimetre-long and 9-centimetre-wide trade mark that reads "SANFAN" in big English capital letters.

"A uniform should show the school's culture and spirit. Why not print the school's name or some encouraging words instead of such a glaring advertisement?" said a parent called Cheng Yushu, whose son is a first-year student at a local primary school.

"It seems that the school uniform maker is able to have a free advertisement," he added.

However, most schools in the city seem not to care about the trademark on their uniforms.

"The manufacturing of school uniforms is supervised by the Taicang Education Commission. I think they agreed to let the clothing factory print its trade name on the clothes," said a primary school teacher who refused to reveal her name.

Only a few schools print their names, instead of the trademark, on the clothes. Taicang Advanced Middle School is one of them.

"The school name is our logo. When students wear our uniforms with their school name on, they should feel proud and remember that they represent the school," said a teacher at the middle school.

The Sanfan Clothing Factory, which is affiliated to the Taicang Education Commission, is said to be the only factory that produces uniforms for local primary and middle schools.

According to Xu Huiying, who is in charge of the works, the factory produces about 35,000 or 40,000 uniforms every year for all the primary and middle schools in the city.

Only four schools have asked the factory to print their own names instead of the trademark on the uniforms.

The Taicang Education Commission refused to give an opinion about the school uniform.

But Chen Hongxia, a sociologist at Suzhou University, suggested that education departments introduce more detailed regulations for the manufacture of school uniforms to avoid advertisements.

(China Daily June 6, 2005)