University's Portrayal of Female Students
This is my first post here.
I recently received my move-in pamphlet from my University and couldn't help but notice that lack of women who were not society's expectation regarding weight and size. All the female students portrayed in the pamphlet are thin and conform to beauty standards such as make up and hair styles.
Perhaps I am taking too much notice and getting upset too easily in regards to the decisions made by the University for advertising and images for pamphlets.
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I thought it was like that for (nearly) everything, not just University pamphlets.
It's really sad..
No, it's not at all unreasonable to be upset about this. I still fondly remember the one university ad I saw years ago that featured a not-thin girl in it, because it was so unusual.
It might be worthwhile writing to them and pointing out that these materials make you feel uncomfortable and unwelcome; after all, they'll bend over backwards to get students these days.
Look and see if there are any fat dudes. There probably aren't of them, either.
It's like there's more equality in the superficial judgment of men and women, but instead of getting there by judging women less, society now judges guys more. Not only is it idiotic beyond belief, but if we reach a stage where everyone is used to having their aesthetics counted for more than anything else, there won't be any voices left to talk about how much it screws everybody over.
There might be one (judging from his facial features but he is cleverly hid between two girls' backs. Not sure if this is note worthy either, but the only female with glasses shown you can't see her face. There's also a red-haired girl who is hid as well. I didn't notice before but a lot of the female students they chose to take pictures of all wear tight fitting/low-cut tops. The only one where they are not, they are wearing a school facility shirt.
My husband actually works for the marketing campaign for the university he is attending for graduate school. His job is to make all of the pamphlets that get sent out to incoming freshman, (well, him and about 5 other people.) so I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents about how it works at his particular department.
Everyone in his department is extremely pressed for time, so as far as this college is concerned (and the one I went to undergrad for too), it's not like they go out and audition for models. 80% of the time, they just photograph whoever is around. I guarantee you that at least 60% of the people in your brochure are probably Resident Assistants or Grad students for the housing department. My husband's department works really hard to make sure that the brochures are a good example of "the average student", and I know how frustrated he is with his job. It seems like not matter what he does, there's always someone complaining about what he did wrong/who he left out.
Don't apologize for your opinions.
Colleges and Universities , especially over the last two decades, have started marketing campaigns as competitive as Coke and Pepsi. Of course for-profit companies are well known for using all sorts of sexism in their advertisements, and now, so are colleges.
Colleges want to be associated with what society considers "attractive" students. While it is unlikely that for-profit corporations will ever be representitive of society, we should hold colleges to a higher standard.
Does *any* promotional campaign or advert claim to depict *average people*?
No one believes that holiday brochures are objective. Adverts for shampoo or skis usually depict the atractive and sport ends of the spectrum.
And tourist brochures are unlikely to show the seedier sides of NYC, Paris or Las vegas.
It seems that the University is simply applying standard advertising practice. As almost certainly taught in their Media and Advertising classes!
but this is not like other forms of marketing. This is a school for goodness sakes these people are supposed to be concerned with ACADEMICS because after all students are paying a lot of money to go there (I go to one of the least expensive colleges in my state and I still pay over $15,000 a semester), if we are having to pay these people this much money we have a right to say how they market themselves, because ultimately it is a reflection of how they are marketing us to our future employers. If an empolyer thinks that a school is a party school they are less likely to take it seriously when you have reached the highest status. Because it wouldn't be an accomplishment, since very few people actually care about the work that they do. For graduates from these schools it can mean the difference between getting the best job in your given profession or the worst
Rebekah,
I take your points (".... students are paying a lot of money ...", ".. right to say how they market themselves ..."). Interesting takes. However, the points you make do seem to underline the fact that the school is an enterprise like any other.
1. A school sells itself: after all, the students are purchasing a product. I presume there is marketing because there is competition. I am not surprised that the marketing is geared to attracting students - poor promotion will lead to few students.
2. Does a purchaser have the right to say anything about a product's promotion? The only right I see is that to boycott the product on offer. I have never heard of anyone claim that the fact that they own a bottle of Coke, or a Mazda, etc. gives them a veto on the promotional campaigns or posters of the said product.
In fact, I would not at all be surprised that different brochures are manufactured for different target groups: the brochure for the sporty types, the one for the mature students, one for the foreign students, etc. Each putting different characteristics across.
I've seen many ads displaying white/non-white people combination or young/old... However I've never seen skinny/full figured combination whatsoever. If we do get to see plus size people displayed in an ad, this will be an ad for overweight people exclusively - something about new diet pills, or a plus size fashion show, or emerging clothing brands. As if full figured people should be isolated within their own community. Sad.