Bug Zoo Raises Ethics Question -- Is Smithsonian Going Commercial?

WASHINGTON - What's next? A Japanese whale-fishing fleet underwriting Sea World? Alpo sponsoring the Kentucky Derby?

The Smithsonian's popular Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History is about to undergo a complete renovation compliments of Orkin Pest Control. In gratitude for a $500,000 gift, the Smithsonian has agreed to name the facility the O. Orkin Insect Zoo in honor of the original Orkin company founder Otto Orkin (1887-1968).

The agreement calls for the first permanent display of a corporate logo in Smithsonian history.

Rep. Sid Yates, D-Ill., who's in charge of the congressional subcommittee that allots federal dollars to the institution, was practically speechless.

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Named after the guys who kill the bugs?" He paused. "I just don't know what to say about it." So he elected to say nothing - for now.

But Michael Jacobson of the Center for the Study of Commercialism, a public-interest group, was . . . bugged. The Orkin Zoo is evidence that "the Smithsonian is continuing to slide down the slippery slope of commercialism," he said. Last month, the National Air and Space Museum launched a "Star Trek" exhibit with backing from Paramount Communications Inc., the producer of the series in all its incarnations. And the Experimental Gallery recently hosted a temporary Lego exhibit, chock-full of blocks.

The Insect Zoo, which opened in 1975, attracts well over a million visitors a year. Its denizens include several hundred arthropods, from the exotic to the mundane. Tarantulas and scorpions. Foreign centipedes and giant cockroaches.

"It certainly will give Orkin a corporate advantage to have the prestige of the Smithsonian rub off on their bug-killing service," Jacobson said. "But at some point, corporate sponsors get to dictate the content of exhibits. For instance, an insect zoo could easily have an adjunct about the dangers of pesticides. You aren't likely to see that if Orkin is a sponsor."

"It's not true," replied Frank Talbot, director of the National Museum of Natural History, home of the Insect Zoo. "Nothing would stop us from doing what our curatorial people feel is essential." The problem, Talbot said, is the museum has 30 halls to renovate. "We're not keeping up with science and we need to do so. Really, what we're doing is creating a public-private partnership. There's no other way with the current budgetary crisis to do it." (The Smithsonian's $332 million congressional appropriation has not been reduced this year, but the institution says its needs have outstripped its budget.)

The Insect Zoo will close this fall but some displays will be moved to other parts of the museum because of the attraction's popularity. When the exhibit reopens in September 1993, the Orkin logo will appear on a plaque at the entrance.

Orkin will not be the only corporate name affixed to a space in the Natural History Museum: A new gallery - to be added during the renovation of the hall of geology, gems and minerals - will be named for Harry Winston (1896-1978), founder of the Harry Winston Inc. jewelry company. The gallery will house the Hope Diamond, donated by Winston in 1957. The Winston family is contributing $1 million toward the renovation, which begins in 1993. There will be no logo display.

Last summer, the Smithsonian dropped a long-standing policy barring the display of corporate logos, after studying policies applied by other institutions. The National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York forbid the use of logos although they acknowledge donors in printed material. Other museums permit logos on banners and brochures.

Pamela Baker, a Natural History Museum spokeswoman, said Orkin did not make the logo display a condition of the agreement. The Smithsonian board of regents requires two-thirds funding of a project for a sponsor to get a "naming opportunity," she said.

An Orkin spokeswoman, Judy Donner, couldn't say whether the company would have been equally generous without the zoo name and logo display. "I don't know that it was ever an issue," she said. Besides, she had really expected the top question to be about the bug-killer's bug-zoo paradox.

The Orkin people hold insects in such high regard that they will help create several special features for them. A new aquatic exhibit with freshwater, saltwater and mangrove-swamp habitats similar to those found in south Florida.

There will even be a "back yard neighbors" exhibit with an interactive computer to help visitors learn about insects they see around the home. Insects they might not want to see, perhaps. Insects that can be eliminated - if you know whom to call.