Campbell’s looking to save snow days amid COVID-19
Remote learning spoils ‘winter rite of passage’
In a year with more remote and virtual learning, is the long-treasured and celebrated snow day another tradition to be lost amid the coronavirus pandemic?
Not if Campbell’s Soup has its way. The Camden, New Jersey-based company wants to preserve the “magical winter rite of passage” and has launched an online pledge to “Save the Snow Day,” officials shared exclusively with USA TODAY.
“Campbell’s Soup obviously has loved the snow day for many, many years,” Chris Foley, president of Campbell’s meals and beverages division, told USA TODAY. “For us, the idea of a snow day is really, really important, particularly now with a concern that everybody is on screens.”
The initiative comes with a new website, SavetheSnowDay.com, and calls “on all who believe in shutting screens off and putting snow boots on to pledge their support to keep a cherished winter tradition alive.”
Campell’s also has a new commercial called “Snowbuddy,” an updated version of its classic and popular Snowman ad that first premiered in 1993 and has run on and off for about 25 years, Foley said.
The iconic commercial featured a snowman coming in from the cold who warmed up with a bowl of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.
The 30-second animated spot made its debut during Wednesday’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.
“It’s a very special moment when you find out that your school is not happening that day. When I was a kid, I used to listen to my code for my high school or middle school and we’d put on our snowsuit and run outside,” Foley said. “I think all kids have that sort of feeling and this year especially I think people need it.”
As part of the program, cans of Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup will be wrapped in limited Snowman labels that will be available nationally.
In a nationwide poll of principals and district leaders published in November by EdWeek Research Center, 39% said their district had converted snow days to remote learning days and an additional 32% were considering the change.
Few aspects of childhood remain unchanged in the COVID-19 era, Leonard Fitts, the interim superintendent of Mahwah, New Jersey public schools, told NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. He said district officials are somewhat eager to call the snow days enshrined in the annual calendar.
“Snow days are chances for on-site learners and virtual learners to just be kids by playing in the snow, baking cookies, reading books and watching a good movie,” Fitts said. “These are times for memory-making, and we believe these types of opportunities should remain intact.”
In Massachusetts, schools have the option this year of doing remote learning instead of a day off during a snowstorm because of the pandemic.
Plymouth schools will be keeping traditional snow days for now, reported The Patriot Ledger, also part of the USA TODAY Network.
Plymouth assistant Superintendent Stacey Rogers said that if the school year has many blizzards, the district may revisit the decision. But for now, it will leave a glimmer of hope for kids to dream about the off-chance of a snow day.
“Who doesn’t love a good snow day?” Rogers said. “Our kids have missed out on so much already because of the coronavirus.”