Data Center Groups Target Youth With PR Campaigns Amid Public Backlash
Industry associations are distributing educational materials and gifts to children to improve public perception of data centers facing community opposition.
Key points
- The 7x24 Exchange International promotes a children's story featuring a honey badger tour of a data center.
- AFCOM distributed flag kits and economic impact cards to 3,100 first graders in Virginia.
- Experts describe these efforts as corporate propaganda tactics similar to those used by tobacco and oil industries.
Data center industry groups are deploying creative public relations strategies targeting children to counter growing local opposition to massive facility build-outs. According to a report by Wired, these organizations are using educational outreach and gifts to shape youth perceptions of the infrastructure sector.
The nonprofit 7x24 Exchange International, which views data centers as mission-critical infrastructure, has promoted a children’s story titled “What is a Data Center?” The narrative features a character named Honey, a honey badger, who receives a guided tour from a worker named Oliver. Oliver explains that employees ensure data center functions remain available to users at all times, regardless of the hour.
Honey asks in the story whether this availability allows her mother to shop online late at night without waking her sleeping father. This dialogue illustrates the industry’s effort to frame data centers as essential, always-on services that support everyday consumer activities. The story serves as a soft entry point for explaining complex infrastructure concepts to young audiences.
Context and Background
This storytelling approach is part of a broader pattern across the data center industry as pushback against energy-intensive campuses intensifies. In addition to traditional lobbying, job creation programs, and tax break campaigns, companies and interest groups are attempting to win over younger demographics. This strategy mirrors tactics used by other sectors facing significant public relations challenges.
Alex Molnar, a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and director of the National Education Policy Center, notes that industries with image problems have targeted schools for over a century. He identifies fast food, tobacco, and oil and gas as examples of sectors that have brought their messaging into educational settings.
Molnar tells Wired that a primary reason corporations engage with schools is corporate propaganda. The goal is not necessarily to sell a specific product but to tell the corporation’s preferred story to future consumers and voters. This long-standing tactic aims to build brand affinity and reduce skepticism among the public.
Who is Affected
In May, the Potomac chapter of the Association for Computer Operations Management (AFCOM) executed a specific outreach campaign in Loudoun County, Virginia. The trade group sponsored Memorial Day-themed flag-making kits for distribution to 3,100 first graders across 37 schools in the region. Loudoun County is widely known as Data Center Alley due to its high concentration of facilities.
Along with the flag kits, the children received informational cards containing statistics about the positive economic impact of the data center industry. The materials highlighted how the sector contributes to the local economy, aiming to associate the infrastructure with community benefits rather than environmental or resource concerns.
What should you do?
Security and technology professionals should monitor these public relations shifts as they may influence future regulatory environments and community acceptance of new infrastructure. Understanding how industry groups frame their narrative can help organizations anticipate public sentiment and prepare for potential backlash during expansion projects.
What to do and how to stay safe
- Monitor local community meeting minutes for mentions of data center educational outreach programs.
- Review trade group publications for new public relations strategies targeting schools or youth groups.
- Assess how industry messaging about economic impact aligns with local environmental concerns.
- Track legislative discussions in regions with high data center concentrations for related policy changes.
Step-by-step guide: Mobile Device Security: How to Protect Data Beyond Passwords
General security guidance from the Threat Times newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.
Frequently asked questions
What is the title of the children's story promoted by 7x24 Exchange International?
The story is titled “What is a Data Center?” and features a honey badger named Honey touring a facility.
