Riddle me this:
What’s everywhere you look but hardly read all over?
Fliers.
They litter our campus rain or shine and can often be seen stuck to car windows, in pathways and even classrooms. Fliers seem to be doing more harm on our campus than helping to promote the next event.
Have you ever had that awkward moment when you spot that one guy who is lurking outside the café doors with a stack of fliers in his hand? He’s waiting to you to come to a party that you are in no way interested in going to. You end up taking the flier and throwing it away without being spotted. How about when you walk to your car on a rainy day, start the engine and turn on the wipers, you see this weekend’s foam bash stuck between the glass and windshield. I’ve had this experience countless times and find it to be a complete nuisance.
When I see a half-naked woman as the dominant art for a or school related event, I cringe. Photos of females in scandalous lingerie referencing events that have nothing to do with their exposed body parts is simply ridiculous. Promoters need to keep celebrities like Lola Luv off their fliers if they’re not going to be there. That’s false advertising.
Are these fliers effective? I don’t think so. The purpose of fliers is to promote the latest parties and social events on a weekly basis. They are outlets for club promoters and street teams. Placing events on Facebook and Twitter are essentially the way parties are advertised, so fliers just seem to be nothing but clutter. According to a 2007 Media Matters, people are exposed to about 600 to 625 ads per day, through newspapers, magazines or TV. Students have short attention spans. After reading fliers and getting the details about the event, the next instinct is to throw them away.
With different forms of advertising around us, the one that we can do without is flier overload. If they must be circulated throughout the campus, let them be for a worthy cause and be worth looking at. It’s time to demand
good taste and less waste.