Look, nobody wants to read about advertising. If it’s not boring, it’s cringeworthy. Why should we care about marketing for a university that we already attend?
But we all feel it deep inside our plums. It’s more than just a brand — UBC doesn’t have an identity!
What’s UBC’s motto? Is it “a place of mind?” No, it’s “tuum est.” I was lying because it’s actually, “It’s yours” (those are all different, dangit).
What are the university’s school colours? Are they blue and gold? Dark blue or light blue? Gold or yellow? So why is every UBC hoodie I see red or green? And why does the UBC Bookstore invent a new type of clothing every year? Looking at you, weird rugby shirt quarter-zip with leather elbow guards.
Is our logo the blue and white “UBC” box, the coat of arms or the stupid cartoon bald eagle?
Okay, maybe I’m nitpicking. You don’t notice it on a daily basis. But your brain does.
When I visited the Harvard bookstore, all I saw was that same shade of red and the same classic logo. It made my brain very happy. However, my brain doesn’t like it when it sees 19 perfectly sharpened pencils all lined up in a row just to realize the 20th is broken. My brain doesn’t like it when every answer on a Scantron is “A” except for number three. If you have a really, really nice Ferrari, it’s all the more painful to see it covered up in scratches.
Because UBC is one of those Ferraris — it looks really cool and it costs a lot. So why do I feel so uninspired by those three letters when they’re on my white t-shirt?
I’d like to think that our brains are better BS-detectors than we ourselves are. They can tell when they’re being lied to, especially when somebody’s trying to sell us something. It’s sort of like the uncanny valley, except instead of being able to tell a Barbie apart from a human, you have to guess if what you’re seeing is genuine or a ploy to make money. Some are more obvious than others, but the ugly sensation of having a product shoved in your face remains.
So I keep hearing about “it’s up to you,” or “diversity,” or “youbc,” but what does that even mean? Is that supposed to make me feel good so I keep paying tuition? What part of UBC’s identity will make me want to come here?
What about featuring the Nitobe Garden or art from the MOA?
If they try to appeal to everyone — the lowest common denominator — the identity that UBC has begins to fade away.
The reason why we don’t have a concrete identity is because the school’s priorities are with new (and international) students’ money. They care more about that than giving anything meaningful to students. It’s why the Board of Governors jacks up tuition to build fountains and hire more middle-managers, rather than just hire the new professors that we desperately need.
This probably isn’t news to you. Universities are corporations. They like money. What’s unique is how insultingly obvious it is.
Yeah, in the end, I might be giving UBC a handful of cash for clothing I don’t really need, but I do it anyway because I want feel a sense of belonging. It’s not dissimilar from teammates wearing matching jerseys or fans buying them. It reminds me that someone else is in the same game as me.
C’mon, UBC. You’re mainlining our money into your bloodstream and making us take five minute detours every other day. Just give us this.
Ford Atwater is a fourth-year student studying computer science.
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