Last week, Queen’s unveiled a new advertising campaign aimed at preventing—or at least limiting—the potential for a repeat of last year’s Homecoming fiasco. The ads focus on the damage done to the Queen’s reputation by the events of last year.
The ads guilt trip students into considering the long-term consequences of their own actions, but also the actions of their peers. You can view all five ads for yourself: queensu.ca/safeHomecomingCampaign/.
Hopefully the ads will encourage students to, in some ways, police ourselves. These ments are effective at making students stop and question whether they’re willing to assist in jeopardizing the reputation of their school and the value of their degree. Reputation is a large factor in why many students come to Queen’s, so it makes sense to target that aspect of Queen’s culture to influence students.
One thing’s for sure: this campaign is far better than previous attempts by both the istration and the AMS to thwart excessive partying and unruly behaviour during Homecoming. Where previous ads were condescending, motherly, and preaching from a moral high ground, these ads appeal to the larger student population, who may not be setting cars on fire and smashing bottles, but are equally affected by the University’s damaged reputation.
It’s clear the istration is concerned with losing alumni donations, which have decreased since last year’s Homecoming incident, but losing alumni donations is something all students should be concerned with as it’s a considerable funding source for the University.
Unfortunately, one of the ads is in somewhat poor taste. It states that nobody died at Homecoming but 18,063 people (the entire student population) were hurt. Because there were students who were physically injured last year on Aberdeen, this particular ment seemed a bit tactless and unnecessary.
Aside from the sensationalized poster, the campaign is creative, thought-provoking and effective. The ads have no intention of telling students not to party, but urges them to consider the consequences of their actions.
Although the campaign may not completely prevent havoc at Homecoming, these posters will hopefully influence some students to reconsider the number of friends they invite for the weekend and the kinds of activities in which they participate in. It’s disappointing the ads didn’t attempt to raise excitement about the numerous positive possibilities of Homecoming rather than focus on preventing a repeat of last year.
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