PA college uses personal ads to woo students

[33girl]

Originally Posted by madmax

Penn State plasters Joe Paterno's face on all of their ads. Wilkes doesn't have Joe Paterno. Who did you expect them to use in their ads, a coal miner?

No, I expect them to use a person who is actually a student. What they did is kind of like McDonald's using pizza in their ads.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No, I expect them to use a person who is actually a student. What they did is kind of like McDonald's using pizza in their ads.

But these were real applicants, applicants that they hoped would enroll and were generally the type of student they wanted to attract. I don't see how your analogy works.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

But these were real applicants, applicants that they hoped would enroll and were generally the type of student they wanted to attract. I don't see how your analogy works.

If I see a billboard for McDonald's with a pizza on it, I expect to be able to go to McDonald's and order pizza and get one.

If I see a billboard for a college with a student on it, I expect to be able to go to that college and see that student walking around or have other proof that she is enrollled.

I mean, what happens if they get applicants who say "what happened to that Nicole girl that was on the billboard?" "Oh, umm, she ended up going to Haverford." "You made a BILLBOARD for her and pursued her to those lengths and she didn't come here? God, this place must suck."

Clarion pursued me to a degree, but if they'd done something like this, I would have run in the other direction.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If I see a billboard for McDonald's with a pizza on it, I expect to be able to go to McDonald's and order pizza and get one.

If I see a billboard for a college with a student on it, I expect to be able to go to that college and see that student walking around or have other proof that she is enrollled.

I mean, what happens if they get applicants who say "what happened to that Nicole girl that was on the billboard?" "Oh, umm, she ended up going to Haverford." "You made a BILLBOARD for her and pursued her to those lengths and she didn't come here? God, this place must suck."

Clarion pursued me to a degree, but if they'd done something like this, I would have run in the other direction.

Well, they would have asked you first, so it probably wouldn't have gone down like that.

I think as long as they were real applicants, it's not a bait and switch. I think the ads made clear that the students hadn't enrolled yet.