A slightly bizarre column was printed in the Spectator today advocating a campus-wide ban of flyers promoting student groups and events. The word "bizarre" is perhaps appropriate because of the suspect reasoning employed by its author, whose understanding of college students and the university setting is incomplete.
Flyers are the primary form of advertising on college campuses. Flyering is cheap, easy, and, if well-designed, can be one of the most effective forms of advertising. The budget allocated to student groups is one that students can and should be able to use as they see fit. If student groups decide that flyering is an effective use of their time and money, who are we to object?
The chief concern of the column's author is the negative environmental impact of flyers. I concede that that impact is a concern. However, it is the responsibility of environmentally-conscious students to purchase recycled paper if available; similarly, it is the responsibility of the university to ensure that when disposing of flyers, they are recycled and not thrown in the trash. Both are simple enough goals and hardly necessitate a campus-wide flyering ban.
The proposed alternative of digital advertising appears simple, but in fact is useless. The only websites that get as much exposure as physical flyers on campus are Bwog and Spectator, which already means that the advertising space available is limited. Additionally, both publications already make some efforts toward publicizing worthwhile campus events. Besides, online advertising space costs money that student groups may or may not have. The cost of printing off a few hundred flyers pales in comparison.
The idea that one single website where everyone can advertise freely can be a reasonable substitute is flawed as well. Who wants to go to a website whose sole purpose is show you ads?
Finally, the author should face the facts: students are, by and large, a little lazy. If the most effective place to advertise is on the pole by which students are forced to walk on a daily basis, then that's how groups can get their message out. Controlling the extent to which campus groups can attract membership and participation is certainly not a viable alternative.
Everything you just said was wrong
On Flyers
1. Not cheap - groups pay for paper and tape -
2. Not easy - takes time to go all the way around campus
3. Not effective - can be easily covered by other flyers - no guarantee anyone who wants to know about your event will see the flyer
4. Not as they see fit - If groups use their budgets wastefully, they should lose funding. Budgets are not blank checks from the university
5. Not recycled, not recyclable - these goals of telling students to use recycled people or custodians to recycle are unenforceable. Banning flyers would prevent wastefulness outright.
On Web-Advertising
6. Not useless - web would get more exposure if it didn't have to compete with flyers
7. Not limited in space - University would host the groups on a capacious website
8. Not costly to groups - University would finance the site. Uploading a flyer on a computer is much less costly than printing 3000 flyers every year
9. Not unappealing to student - People want to find out what's happening on campus. They would read about group events just as much they read Spec or Bwog
10. Not anti-lazy - This kind of site would cater to procrastinators. It would make events easier to find out about. And why should we spend so many resources to get lazy students involved
agree with author
flyering is proven to work.
the free market has spoken! if it didn't work, people would stop doing it.
the free market isn't god
in the case of advertising, individual groups looking out for their own interest by flyering does not lead to the best outcome for the community. cars that use oil gas "work," but that doesn't mean we should stop researching alternative energy. flyer's "work," but t something else might also work, and do other things. If the administration stepped in, the "free market" would behave differently.
people do use advertising in
people do use advertising in other ways -- have you seen bwog lately?
this site has event listing also
there are plenty of examples of internet-based advertising which is just as informative of flyers. We have websites that exclusively host student group announements. the technology is there, the university can create the right incentives.
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