Data Center Industry Launches Kids Marketing Blitz to Counter Growing Opposition
Source: Wired
With data centers facing environmental and community pushback over water usage, energy consumption, and land claims, the industry is deploying a coordinated soft-power play aimed at normalizing infrastructure through childhood education—field trips, branded educational kits, even trading cards for elementary students. This replicates a proven playbook from industries under siege (fossil fuels, tobacco): build brand affinity before critical thinking solidifies, and create constituent groups (parents, teachers, local officials who attended as kids) with positive associations to the brand. The stakes are municipal zoning approvals and state-level regulation; win over the local kids and you've got a generation of voters pre-inoculated against data center skepticism.