Shaun Peace
12/1/09
RHET 233: 10am
Research Paper
Advertising on Campus: The Nation Inside the Nation
Democracy, capitalism, and even trade marked the beginning of something that would
affect people many centuries later, advertising. Although informational and dry at first, ads
would grow to become bold tools that make outrageous claims and make use of eye-catching
images. And as for the advertising business itself; it would become a multimillion dollar
industry with its own sets of rules, regulations, jargon, and strategies.
Advertising is defined as a business in which one party takes payment from another and
in exchange creates a persuasive medium to expose the masses to. As with any business, terms
must be created to describe the different pieces of it and its purpose. In this case, terms were
created to describe the many aspects of the ads themselves. Copy is one of the least selfexplanatory terms in advertising, it describes the written part of an ad that elaborates on the
purpose, be it a product, event, etc. The headline is the attention getter of the ad; it acts as the
vague, interesting hook that introduces the ad. The subhead describes the headline, slightly
elaborating on it. These three components of advertisements are universal across every medium
of advertising (although as few as none of them may even appear in any given ad). However,
what good are components with no strategy to piece them together?
Depending on the goal, resources, and demographic advertising methods will vary. For
example, a cereal brand such as Froot Loops, who is targeting children, their main goal might
simply be brand recall. The idea behind this goal is that a child in a grocery market will see the
brand and recognize the name making it more likely for the parent to buy it. Similarly, there are
different strategies when dealing with people of other age groups and for other goals.
The college student is an important demographic to give attention to. In 1998 car
manufacturer Daewoo, new to the U.S., chose to target college students (Armstrong, 1998).
They decided to use students to market to their peers, they paid them commission for every car
they were responsible for selling (Armstrong, 1998). This was a smart move on Daewoo’s part.
According to a 1986 article in Marketing News, if college students were a state they would be the
fourth largest state in the U.S. (Marketers should target the 51st U.S. state: The college market).
It also lists that a college student spends more per-month than an average 4-person family
(Marketers should target the 51st U.S. state: The college market, 1986). These facts not only
affect national advertising but they are also important to campus towns.
Advertising toward the college student is a vital part of the economy of any campus town.
A business that does not take advantage of the college demographic is destined for failure. On
the Champaign-Urbana campus, many businesses have recognized this and what resulted was a
rich advertising culture. Throughout the last few decades, advertising on the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus has mimicked advertising in the United States while at the
same time retaining several features.
During the 1930s-1940s, advertisements were black and
white prints with very few pictures and straightforward copy and
headlines. Due to distrust for advertisements and business caused
by the Great Depression, ads were straightforward (O’Guinn,
Allen, Semenik, 2006, p. 86). This distrust also translated to
straightforward advertisements on the University of Illinois
campus.
In a 1929 issue of the Daily Illini, the store Piggly Wiggly
advertised for the homecoming game. This ad is an example of one of the last few ads of its kind
in this time period. It shows a football player running with the ball and in the upper right it says
“Let’s Go Illinois!”, suggesting that this ad is meant to draw on Illini
football pride. It asks the viewer if they are ready for the game and stating
that if they are not they should come stock up on food from Piggly
Wiggly.
The images and nature of the copy suggest that this ad was printed
before any blacklash from the Great Depression hit advertisements.
Images of Piggly Wiggly’s ads from the mid-1930s show a change to a
more straightforward look with much less copy and nonexistant headlines.
Only a couple of years after the
Piggly Wiggly ad in the Daily Illini, ads
have completely changed. This advertisement from Pete’s
Quality Restaurant features no images and a very academic
looking serif font. Instead of flashy images, this ad boasts
balanced meals and its “tender, juicy Porterhouse Steak[s]” for 85
cents. This ad is representative of the Great Depression ads of its
time.
Interestingly it uses steak and the “lowest prices” as hooks to attract customers. It is safe
to say that the Great Depression did not take away the use of deals and steak to get students to
buy.
In 1932, the trend of very few pictures and paragraphs of copy
continued with this Green Tea Pot ad from the Daily Illini. Once again, the
business makes sure to mention that they do not charge much for a meal.
This is understandable. The Great Depression was happening and money,
as well as saving money, was on everyone’s minds.
This advertisement for
University Avenue Tavern
from 1935 continues the trend
of using steak to draw
customers. This time “fancy bar drinks” and
Griesedieck Bros. Beer is added to the mix.
Embassy
Tavern (Daily
Illini, 1935) takes a similar approach using a mix of hot chili
chicken sandwiches, Griesedieck Bros. Beer, and “fine bar
drinks” to attract customers.
The repeated appearance of Griesedieck Bros. Beer in
these 1935 ads suggests that it was popular beer for that time
period.
In a 1938 issue of the Daily Illini, the
steak makes another appearance as a selling
point for a tavern. This time it is Twenty Taylor
Tavern. The ad boasts that Twenty Taylor
Tavern is the best bar and specializes in steaks. Following these statements, they end with
“Follow the Gala Crowd to Twenty Taylor Tavern” claiming that they are the destination for the
partygoers and people with whom the reader wants to associate his or herself with. This suggests
that the effects of the Great Depression on ads are dying down, because this statement is less
straightforward and is more manipulative than those in that were in the earlier ads.
In 1941 in the Daily Illini, Twenty Taylor
Tavern continues their use of less straightforward
statements, steaks, and boastful language. Here they
show three college aged men enjoying a beer
together with smiles on their faces. This strategy is
what O’Guinn, Allen, and Semenik call consumption
experience transformation (2006, p. 326-327). In transformation ads, the goal is to take
something such as buying a beer at Twenty Taylor Tavern and make the experience better by
connecting it with feelings and images (2006, p. 326-327). In this case, the joy that the three
gentlemen in the cartoon are feeling is meant to cause the reader to want to experience that joy.
Post-Great Depression advertising shifted back to the more glamorous ads that were
present in the Roaring Twenties. Eventually ads saw the addition of color and television ads.
Finally, advertising saw the introduction of the internet in the early 1990s.
Advertising had moved into the digital age. With the help of Facebook and other social
networking websites, it became easier and cheaper than before to expose students to events and
deals on campus.
This Facebook ad for Omega Delta’s fundraising pudding
fight, Sundae Fight on Sunday Night, features no information on the
event other than the name of it. This event was publicized mainly on
Facebook, so dates, times, and prices are not necessary for the image.
All the additional information was posted on the Facebook event
page. Facebook is a format for advertisements and other promotion
that is unique to this decade and online advertising is one that is unique to the last two decades.
The internet has made it a lot easier for groups and organizations (such as this frat) to advertise
and promote. Along with ease it has also made it a lot cheaper (in many cases free) to promote
events.
This ad also features a girl with brass knuckles, in a bikini, with chocolate covering her.
Obviously, this ad was targeted at males. The event page boasted a price of ten dollars for males
and five for females. It is clear that this frat expected “sex” to “sell” their event to men so
despite the higher cost they would still have a good turnout.
This ad for a special Halloween event at Canopy Club gives
more information on the actual image suggesting physical copies
were printed, in addition to it being a Facebook event. The maker
of this flyer uses several different methods to attract people to
come. The first most obvious way is the use of the music genre
Electro in the name of the event. This alone is going to separate
who looks further into the event and who does not. The next method used to attract attendees is
the collage of DJ names all over the image. This will attract people who are fans of mentioned
DJs. One major way they attempt to attract people is by stating that the event has no cover. The
only issue with that is that it is in small print at the bottom of the image. One would think that
would be a major attraction and would deserve much more space on image. The final method is
the mention of two-dollar drafts. Alcohol is a major selling point for events on campus, so
including this information attracts some people who are just looking for cheap alcohol.
This Facebook advertisement was for an Omega Delta
Mardi Gras party, OD Gras. Once again, because this is a
Facebook image it does not have to give too many details. In the
case of this advertisement the name of the event, the date of the
event, the fraternity throwing it, and the sponsors are the only
information given. The only selling points for this event were the
corporate sponsors. The organization throwing it relied on the big
names attached to it (MTV and Rockstar Energy Drink) to get
people to attend.
Facebook ads are unique in the fact they allow for the least amount of copy on the actual
image but at the same time can give you the most information. This is apparent with the Sundae
Fight on Sunday Night ad and the OD Gras ad where the image becomes the focus and the hook
to draw people in.
Advertisements in the Daily Illini, the University’s student paper, have their own hooks
to draw students in. Many of the advertisements in the Daily Illini use school pride and Illini
football to as a tool to hook students. From ads for bars, to ads for on-campus stores, many of
them use Illini pride and football as a tactic for drawing consumers.
This ad for 180s uses multiple images
with the school logo on articles of clothing that
would most likely be worn at a football game
(earmuffs, gloves, booties, and a scarf). Along
with that, it also asks the reader if they are a
fanatic. The subhead continues to define a fanatic as a person who shows “excessive enthusiasm
and often intense devotion.” In other words, 180s is asking if the student is devoted to their team
and saying that they are devoted. This ad has the potential to be very effective for those who are
fanatics and those who are not. Questioning the student’s devotion to their team when
positioning themselves as a fanatic evokes a feeling of shame from someone who may not be a
fanatic. Thus, the student decides a pair of Illini branded gloves will hide their lack of devotion.
At the same time, fanatics can feel a connection with 180s, because they understand their
fanaticism. The student may even look toward 180s as a role model for how fanatics should act
or specifically dress, prompting them to buy a pair of Illini branded earmuffs. Overall, they are
trying to play on the school spirit of the reader in order to coax them into buying an Illini
branded product, whether said reader is a fanatic or not.
Here T.I.S. bookstore uses the Illini to
increase business by offering a discount on
Illini merchandise after an Illinois victory.
The issue with this advertising approach is
that it depends entirely on how well the Illini
do.
This ad not only uses school spirit as a device to increase sales, it also uses college
students’ desires for bargains. Many ads and businesses do this, it is most likely a major reason
Keystone (which is looked at as a horrible beer) is still in business. Price is a huge factor when
advertising and promoting to college students, which is why it is confusing that the Electroween
ad had price information in such small font at the bottom of the advertisement. The fact that it
was free should have been in large print.
Stores that sell Illini apparel were not the only ones that used school spirit and football as
a means to attach customers. Restaurants and bars also try to draw from Illini pride and football
to increase sales.
Here Alexander’s Steakhouse (a
restaurant I have never heard of) uses the
headline, “Steak That’ll Satisfy a Lineman”.
For some reason, football games are
synonymous with eating a lot and eating
many masculine foods. In addition, football players are looked at as figures of masculinity with
large appetites. This ad plays on those ideas by stating that their steak is enough for a football
player therefore, it is enough to satisfy a man and more specifically a man with a large appetite.
This ad appeared on one of the Daily Illini’s sports pages. It is clearly targeted at males
interested in sports and the steak lover. Ads like this one show how football in general (not just
Illini football) is used to attract business on campus.
This ad for Brothers Bar uses the
Illini versus Minnesota game as a way to
keep their customers at their chain by
mentioning the Brothers in Minneapolis.
They also use deals on food and drinks as
another factor to attract customers and keep customers in a Brothers Bar.
Familiarity is also a major way to advertise. People are more likely to visit a
bar/restaurant/store they are familiar with, whether its location or name (in this case name).
Kam’s uses the Illini versus
Minnesota game in a different way. They
choose to advertise to people who are
staying in Champaign by advertising a
“Game Watch Party” with raffles and prizes
and a cookout. Prizes are also a marketing technique to get customers. The idea of getting
something for nothing is appealing no matter how old or young you are so it makes sense why it
would be used help draw college students (who are already supposedly looking for deals).
This ad also mentions deals on alcohol, which along with the prizes appeal to the deal
searching college student.
Interestingly, Jarling’s Custard Cup
mentions that their recipe for custard is 93%
fat free. Saying that a product is some
percentage fat free is always going to draw
more people, due to them wanting something
for nothing. In this case, it is less literal and people want a good tasting treat with minimal fat.
Finally, Jarling’s uses blue and orange on their cartoon football player tying in the Illini
football pride. Even this small image of an Illini player is being used to relate to Illinois
students.
Overall, it seems like ads in the Daily Illini are taking a page out of the books of many
larger companies who use sports in ads often, for example the Sox versus Cubs McDonald’s ads.
In this advertisement I pulled from the Daily Illini, they
obviously use football to draw students in. Oddly enough, football has
nothing to do with the message of this advertisement. With that being
said, the effectiveness of this ad has to be questioned and whether it
was just put in there to try to relate to the football-going crowd. The
use of this image to represent football at the University of Illinois also
has to be questioned. At first glance, it is difficult to realize any
connection to the university. Eventually, the one lone orange and blue
football player, being dived over in a physical way by the opponent
(who just so happens to have the ball), will come to the viewers attention. The cherry on top of it
all is the fact that the opponent seems to be almost kneeing the orange and blue player in the
face. This image does not paint a good picture of the Illini and with that; it is hard to imagine
this ad to attracting many students. Lastly, the image has nothing to do with the copy, which
basically, means they could have used any other image in this advertisement. This would be a
more successful ad if it used a picture of an Illini Tower room, in cliché fashion.
This ad for the Illio is trying to get students
to take their senior picture for the yearbook. Not
only do they use the “chance to win a pair of free
Dad’s Weekend football tickets”, but they also use
humor as a way to relate to the viewer. This is
evident in almost every line of the subhead (the
copy under the headline that continues the ideas
posed by the headline).

You forgot last session: This relates to
those who meant to take their picture before but forgot. Most people can appreciate a
second chance to do what they meant to and they might be able to see humor in the fact
that this ad knows their situation.

Your parents will LOVE YOU!: Most likely no one thinks that this will cause their
parents to love them literally, but it can be looked at as their parents will appreciate that
they did that. The humor in this one comes from the font they used and the exclamation
point. It adds a feel of urgency and excitement, where one can image someone saying it
to them.

Facebook will not be around forever!: Considering how popular Facebook is, it is
definitely something that most, if not all students can relate to in some way. The humor
comes from the fact that this statement is completely true and it is something many
people do not think about.

You survived 4 years of binge drinking. Let this be proof!: The humor from this
statement comes from the association made between college and drinking, and the irony
that that is not what comes to the graduating seniors’ mind first when they think of
graduating.
The Daily Illini still plays a major role in the University of Illinois advertising, but the
internet has been implanted into the campus-advertising world. Facebook, Twitter, and even the
digital version of the Daily Illini act as quicker ways to access ads and promotional material.
With bars sending out Facebook messages and tweets about their upcoming events and specials
all this information is only a web page away. When considering that the University of Illinois
has wifi and that many phones have the capability to access the internet print ads seem close to
extinct.
In addition to accessibility, the internet has changed the format of advertisement images.
Advertising on Facebook allows the advertiser to put as little copy on an image as possible and
leave it for the page of the event, group, or company. This was displayed by the two Omega
Delta events. They chose to use very little copy and let the images draw people in.
Although technology is a major difference between the ads of today and those of
yesterday, a few features have stayed around since the 1930s. The most prominent one is the use
of steak. In many of the ads from the 1930s, steak was mentioned and restaurants and bars alike
bragged about how satisfying their steak was. Alexander’s picks up this tradition mentioning
that their steak can “satisfy a linebacker”.
Another feature is the use of Illini pride and football. Although not as saturated as now,
the Fighting Illini took the pages of homecoming ads for Piggly Wiggly and other stores and
bars. Uses of football in modern advertisements are much more manipulative than they were in
1929 and the 1930s. They are less straightforward, at times not even mentioning football or the
Illini specifically such as the Illini Towers ad or the Jarling’s ad. In these ads football has
nothing to do with the product or the copy, yet images of football players end up on the
advertisement.
Alcohol is the final tie between the then and now of University of Illinois advertising.
Ads from the 1930s mentioned Griesedieck Bros. Beer, and “fine bar drinks” as ways to attract
consumers while the Electroween ad from October 2009 mentions two dollar drafts. Alcohol is a
large part of the college experience. During college is when many become the legal drinking
age, so it would make sense for alcohol to be a major part of the advertising culture as well as the
campus culture.
Undoubtedly, as much as U of I students play a role in the advertising on campus,
advertising plays an important role in the lives of U of I students. One could go as far and say
that the strength of the advertising mixed with other attributes such as location and price dictate
where students spend time and money while on campus. Therefore, it is easy to understand why
certain attributes from campus ads have been around since the 1930s. It is because they have
been proven to work. From the mention of steaks and alcohol to the images and links to football
and Illini pride, mainstays in University of Illinois advertisements help to relate to the student
body. At the same time, the changes in the advertisements relate to the student body even more.
The simplicity of 1930s-1940s ads reflects the time periods skepticism of advertisements during
the Great Depression. While modern ads using Facebook reflect the importance of technology in
people’s lives nowadays and the use of sex as selling points show the shift from conservative
media. These specific changes not only reflect the culture on campus but the nation as a whole.
It is important for students to be media literate and recognize how advertising targets them as
well as reflects changes in the world around them. Not only does being does media literacy help
students make informed decisions about purchases, but also recognizing how ads reflect changes
in their world could help them read changes in the economy.
References
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