Advertising on College Campuses

I spent a couple of days over Thanksgiving break visiting friends and family in Austin. Walking around the University of Texas campus and to my friends’ apartments right off-campus, I was struck by the nature of the advertisements on billboards that I saw. We talked today in class about how Victorian advertising brought images of domesticity out of the private home and into the public sphere. The advertisements that I saw on UT’s campus were kind of surprising for a few different reasons. The first billboard I saw was for a nearby apartment complex. It depicted a shirtless guy with a girl in lingerie on top of him; the couple looked shocked at the camera, as if they had been walked in on and caught in the act. The slogan was something along the lines of “Because you need your own space for your own needs.” (When I came across this billboard, it was dark, so the picture didn’t come out well on my phone, and I never passed it again, unfortunately). I was first captivated by how something that is quite personal (hooking up with someone) was taken out of the private sphere and used as a technique to market a product. I was also intrigued by the hegemonic ideals present in this advertisement. Clearly leasing an apartment from this company would not correlate with one’s sexual activity, but advertisements such as these suggest that having your “own space” will make your “own needs” those of needing a place for hooking up.

There were a bunch of advertisements similar to this one, scattered all around the campus. I thought that said a lot about the UT student body. I have never really noticed billboards or lack thereof around our “campus,” but around UT, they all seem to send the message that whatever product is being advertised will lead to one’s getting laid. Below is the one picture I did get of a billboard I passed in the daytime. It’s an advertisement for an apartment complex directly off of UT’s campus, that says “It’s not a walk of shame if you’re walking home to The Quarters,” (The Quarters being the apartment complex). Again, the advertisement played up the presence of sex on campus and shows a pretty girl walking home after a presumably fun night. Obviously what will happen to you if you live at The Quarters…