Five commerce students are using the phrase “under the kilt” for a $9,000 campaign to encourage students to party responsibly during Homecoming.
“It’s a teaser campaign,” said Ruwani Sundaratne, Comm ’07 and one of the project’s organizers.
The group has tried to build the hype around their message by refusing to disclose it.
Instead, they encourage curious students to visit their website, which uses videos, slogans and pictures to convince students to party responsibly during Homecoming 2006.
The site opens with a video of Boohoo the bear, the official Queen’s mascot, doing the macarena, and then displays a message declaring that, although the makers of the site are students who want Homecoming to keep going, “the hangover from last year’s party lasted a little too long.”
Links on the site allow students to read the website’s “rant,” watch videos with messages such as “Protect yourself: use a cup,” and explore a brief history of Homecoming, among other things.
The website has gotten more than 5,000 hits.
Organizer Sonia Luthra, Comm ’07, said the group’s slogan is, “Party hard, but don’t make it hard to party.”
“We’re just telling people to party hard, but party safe,” she said.
Throughout this week, students will be given free merchandise if they prove they visited the website. Organizers are planning to give out T-shirts, frisbees, water bottles and candy.
The project was initially created last year for a competition in the students’ marketing course. The team ended up as a finalist in the class and presented the project to their professor as well as AMS staff, istration officials and the school of business dean.
The project is being funded with money from the Student Community Relations and Civic Responsibility Fund, created by Vice-Principal (Academic) Patrick Deane as a response to last year’s Homecoming.
Deane said the istration was prepared to give the project’s organizer’s $10,000, of which they’ve used around $9,000.
“My thinking about this was that, despite all the things that happened last year, students are creative, highly imaginative, and the best people to deal with problems caused by a small minority,” he said. “I thought it was brilliant, inventive, witty and I thought it was very much in keeping with the spirit of Queen’s, generally. They were having fun addressing a serious issue.”
Alison Johnson, the class’ professor, said she was impressed by the students’ project, and invited the istration to view their presentation.
“I felt the students’ perspective was so much more in touch with the audience they were trying to get to,” she said. “The messages that were given out last year were more like parents, not really so that students would appreciate them.” Johnson said the campaign is first and foremost a product of the students’ hard work and initiative.
“[These were] completely students’ ideas. Nothing was changed by the istration; it was just a matter of them getting a little bit of money to carry out their own fund,” she said. Luthra added the group is relying on the mystery surrounding what Under the Kilt is to create interest, and students they’ve approached have been curious.
“We got tons and tons and tons of response … people were extremely enthusiastic. We actually ran out of a lot of merchandise,” she said. “People were willing to buy our stuff.”
Ryan Quinlan-Keech, AMS municipal affairs commissioner, said the students are sending out an important message.
“It’s students talking to students … it’s great to see that other students are bringing homecoming back to its roots.”
Marcus Bowman, ArtSci ’09, said the campaign has piqued his curiosity.
“I’ve actually been wanting to ask what it is … we’ve actually been talking about it all day,” he said at the ASUS Sidewalk Sale Friday. “Once we get the internet hooked up, maybe [we’ll check out the website].”
Many students who have visited the website responded positively to its message.
“I think it was really neat how it was the students giving out the information,” said Erica Jensen, ArtSci ’10. “It wasn’t being lectured by a prof.”
Don Rogers, ArtSci ’08, said he doesn’t think the campaign will have much effect.
“It won’t change what anyone does.”
—With files from Lisa Jemison
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