Higher education, but make it fashion…
At no point while studying my masters did I stand around a table in a spacious, sun-lit room, laughing as I stuck Post-it notes to a glass wall with an attractive group of ethnically-diverse students of my own age.
The barrage of programmatic advertising that I’m currently* getting for courses, TAFEs and unis would have me believe that I have missed out on a significantly more glamorous higher education experience.
I cannot get past the predictable homogeneity of imagery that is used across social media, advertising and websites to depict higher education life: a black woman with an Afro, a Japanese girl with a severe mid-length bob and kooky spectacles, a red-head dude with a carefully tilted fedora and a MacBook, and Post-it notes, SO MANY Post-it notes. I don’t think my University could afford pens let alone something as extravagantly wasteful as Post-It Notes! And don’t even get me started on lecture rooms with windows and tables. Luxury.
My cohort consisted of me (a white, cranky, know-it-all, mature-age student), two Chinese dudes (who I literally saw maybe, thrice), one Ukrainian girl (who inexplicably disappeared a week before the end of semester) and the remainder (60–70%)was made up of South Asians, yet they were, and are, so rarely represented on the marketing materials for my own school.
I am yet to see an image that accurately depicts campus life, and in the majority of cases, any real students. Many universities put all their eggs and effort into one marketing basket to lure students from specific regions or countries, charge them double and then treat them like ghosts, unless they’re aesthetically appealing, in which case they get to feature in social media ‘takeovers’ and inspirational marketing campaign videos, holding books and walking in slow motion.
We sat in rundown classrooms, we argued over Trello about who hadn’t done their agreed share of a group assignment, we felt sorry for our over-stretched lecturers, we had heated debates, we loved it, but it wasn’t glamorous. It was sticky, under resourced, over crowded, broken down.
Why not use images of actual campus life, or use actual students. It’s not Vogue and hey, neither are we. We’ve got shit skin, we’re tired, some of us work three jobs, some of us have kids, some of us can’t afford edgy Danish designer outfits or $2,000 laptops. But when attracting prospective students, they want to see themselves — not imagery of a faux Google headquarters that looks like they’d never fit into. It’s intimidating, unapproachable and a deterrent. And honestly, unimaginative, tired and tells you nothing at all when everything looks the same as the next college.
*I don’t completely understand the sudden spamming. Maybe the interwebs-puppet-masters decided I need to up or side skill. Or maybe I just need to invest more heavily in Post-It Notes.
