What you talking ̢۪bout, Willis?
Friday the 13th, it certainly was. I opened the Collegian, like any other Friday, to find myself outraged by an article written by Haisten Willis. You want me to ‘ask her?’ was meant to inform the Fresno State masses of the intent and source of the ‘Ask Her’ scribbles tormenting the sidewalks of our beloved Free Speech Area over the past two weeks.
Instead it was twisted into an uninformed article, seemingly conjured up to meet a Valentine̢۪s Day quota. If someone would like to write an opinion piece about Valentine̢۪s Day, there are many routes to take. A slumped-economy guide to affordable dining, a personal collection of favorite chocolate options or even a feel-good story about the origins of the carnation all would have been viable options.
Instead, Mr. Willis decided to take a hard worked guerilla ad campaign and twist it into a self-esteem boosting stunt.
It seems little to no investigative work was used in finding the source of the colorful graffiti on the ground. You see, the actual reason for the ‘Ask Hers’ is to invoke a sense of curiosity over the last two weeks before finally spotting a lovely lady in a bold ‘ASK ME’ T-shirt carousing the campus. The women, then, after being asked, informs you of how to become a new member of the fraternity at Fresno State, Kappa Sigma.
An efficient investigation tactic may have been to search The Collegian archives. It shouldn’t take too long as the last ‘ASK HER’ campaign, and sub sequentially, the last article written about it was a mere two years ago. That writer did not give up on his research as quick as Willis, as he found the source, yours truly, approximately a month after the campaign had wrapped up. Nonetheless, an effort was actually put in to the work.
To Mr. Willis I say congratulations on fulfilling your Valentine̢۪s Day journalistic duties, but next time you might want to dig a little deeper before giving up and creating your own story. The work of a small budget journalist may be tough at best, but it doesn̢۪t take Encyclopedia Brown to figure out this mystery.
Bradley Norris
Kappa Sigma President
Starbucks on campus ‘unethical’ and ‘shameful’
I think it is a shame how Fresno State has bowed before the shameful Starbucks monopoly and removed fair trade coffee from the campus.
Free trade is when corporations (generally U.S.) take over land (thanks to things like N.A.F.T.A. and the IMF) and then pay pennies on the dollar for the people who used to own the land to continue farming it for the corporations.
Fair trade is when the people continue to use their land and are paid a fair price for their product generally cutting out most of the middlemen.
It̢۪s very similar to the situation with sweatshops. The University should set a good example for the students, this move is unethical and should not be tolerated.
Joshua Cranston
Senior
Sociology
Gloria Gruber • Feb 19, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Joshua Cranston has taken a few too many lefty college courses and should worry more about being an economically viable member of society following college rather than living on a sociology degree and government unemployment check. Get out of here with that Cesar Chavez gobbledegook.
Gloria Gruber • Feb 20, 2009 at 6:33 am
Joshua Cranston has taken a few too many lefty college courses and should worry more about being an economically viable member of society following college rather than living on a sociology degree and government unemployment check. Get out of here with that Cesar Chavez gobbledegook.
Wow • Feb 19, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Dearest Bradley,
You have got to be kidding me! The article you wrote just makes me despise fraternities and sororities even more (which I didn’t think was even possible). You really did the stereotypes of fraternities’ justice. The fact that you feel that everyone should know about this campaign as if it were important enough is just baffling. My first thought upon reading your article was, “Why is this even important?â€Â Thousands upon thousands of people attend California State University, Fresno and in respect to that only a few are involved in social fraternities and sororities. Yes, I say social because that is the only purpose for them. The fact that people have to pay dues to be included in your self-centered club pretty much sums it up. I guess the fact that you had to make an ad campaign makes sense. The more “brothersâ€Â you get the more money your frat has for alcohol and super cool parties. Don’t blame Willis for the misunderstanding upon the “Ask Herâ€Â campaign. Any educated person who knew what day it was and did not only think about themselves would clearly think that it had something to do with valentines day. Even without that why should anyone care? As a girl I am ashamed to be of the same sex of the individual who was more than likely so excited to wear a shirt so that she could feel important enough that individuals were coming up and “asking herâ€Â. Willingly exploiting herself for the good of an all male group takes away all the accomplishments females have received (to those girls – way to set us back decades). How dare that we not know that it has to do with your fraternity?! Perhaps it is because NO ONE CARES! You and your “brothersâ€Â walk around with your head held high, your letters posted proudly on your chest, and a stick up… well you know where. The way one dresses is an expression of their personalities and for you and your “brothersâ€Â to wear those letters EVERYDAY pretty much defines how egotistical you are. I accept that I constantly have to walk through campus while those obnoxious booths sit in the middle of campus for the sole purpose of feeding your groups ego. I am glad that you wrote this article in rebuttal to what you thought was an “ignorantâ€Â article, it just further goes to prove my point of selfishness. Even more it gave me a chance and other students to write back in hopes to maybe open your eyes, just a little, to see that Kappa Sigma, and all other “socialâ€Â Greek groups are not the center of the campus with events that everyone knows about. You have chosen semester after semester who to accept into your close knit group. Well Bradley, ask around to the thousands of people at Fresno State, they have spoken and cannot stand Fraternities and Sororities. Majority rules.
Sincerely,
A Fresno State Student who could care less about your frat. Shocker!
Wow • Feb 20, 2009 at 5:06 am
Dearest Bradley,
You have got to be kidding me! The article you wrote just makes me despise fraternities and sororities even more (which I didn’t think was even possible). You really did the stereotypes of fraternities’ justice. The fact that you feel that everyone should know about this campaign as if it were important enough is just baffling. My first thought upon reading your article was, “Why is this even important?” Thousands upon thousands of people attend California State University, Fresno and in respect to that only a few are involved in social fraternities and sororities. Yes, I say social because that is the only purpose for them. The fact that people have to pay dues to be included in your self-centered club pretty much sums it up. I guess the fact that you had to make an ad campaign makes sense. The more “brothers” you get the more money your frat has for alcohol and super cool parties. Don’t blame Willis for the misunderstanding upon the “Ask Her” campaign. Any educated person who knew what day it was and did not only think about themselves would clearly think that it had something to do with valentines day. Even without that why should anyone care? As a girl I am ashamed to be of the same sex of the individual who was more than likely so excited to wear a shirt so that she could feel important enough that individuals were coming up and “asking her”. Willingly exploiting herself for the good of an all male group takes away all the accomplishments females have received (to those girls – way to set us back decades). How dare that we not know that it has to do with your fraternity?! Perhaps it is because NO ONE CARES! You and your “brothers” walk around with your head held high, your letters posted proudly on your chest, and a stick up… well you know where. The way one dresses is an expression of their personalities and for you and your “brothers” to wear those letters EVERYDAY pretty much defines how egotistical you are. I accept that I constantly have to walk through campus while those obnoxious booths sit in the middle of campus for the sole purpose of feeding your groups ego. I am glad that you wrote this article in rebuttal to what you thought was an “ignorant” article, it just further goes to prove my point of selfishness. Even more it gave me a chance and other students to write back in hopes to maybe open your eyes, just a little, to see that Kappa Sigma, and all other “social” Greek groups are not the center of the campus with events that everyone knows about. You have chosen semester after semester who to accept into your close knit group. Well Bradley, ask around to the thousands of people at Fresno State, they have spoken and cannot stand Fraternities and Sororities. Majority rules.
Sincerely,
A Fresno State Student who could care less about your frat. Shocker!
Really? • Feb 18, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Dear Bradley,
First off, it was a column piece…or in less than mentally capable frat-boy terms “opinion.” Maybe you ought to do your own investigative work and learn the context under which things are written, that’s critical thinking 101 el presidente, oh wait, the context under which the article was written was in the article itself. Take it for what it was. Second off, apart from yourself, who cares? Seriously, I’ll find some of your “brothers” (stop paying your dues and see who your ‘brothers’ really are) and I can guarantee you, that they probably don’t care. If they read the article, some of them would probably think, ‘oh, wow, that wasn’t a bad article, kind of ironic that it started from our “guerrilla ad campaign” in “our beloved Free Speech Area over the past two weeks.” On another note “guerrilla ad campaign, beloved Free Speech Area,” are you for real man. Who says that? You remind of BJ Novak’s character Ryan from NBC’s The Office. The character’s role is that of a complete suck up and that of a tool. You exemplify both in flying colors in your letter to the editor. You try and make the point that because of Willis’s article your frat lost pledges. You didn’t lose pledges because of this article, you never had pledges…that’s why you were running an ad campaign. It sounds to me like you wanted free publicity, as stated by Scout, but you guys don’t deserve it. What have you or your frat done to deserve such an article. When I walked through our ‘beloved free speech area,’ and saw the ‘ask her’ junk written all over the place, my thought was “wow, that area was really looking good what with the new library and all, until all this ‘graffiti’ was written all over the place. I thought great now it looks like south central la now.” Thank you for this fine addition to our campus.Thank you for your obnoxious and unwelcome ad campaign. By the way, griping (or complaining) like that makes you look like an elitist (or in your language, a person who thinks they are better than everyone else), which isn’t something you would want to have attached to your frats name while you are trying to welcome people (pledges in your lingo). Folks like are you why people don’t like frats. You are actively adding to the negative stereotypes that non greeks have of the greek system through your petty wining and egotistical sense of entitlement. Willis’ article probably helped your frat out more than your letter. People who read the article probably found themselves asking ‘what is the ask her thing all about,’ which had they followed their question would led them to you. Where as should they read your letter, they’ll think, ‘wow, this guy’s a jerk.’ In short, get over yourself and use a better ad campaign to reach those you are trying to sell to.
Respectively,
a rather annoyed Fresno State student
Really? • Feb 19, 2009 at 3:45 am
Dear Bradley,
First off, it was a column piece…or in less than mentally capable frat-boy terms “opinion.” Maybe you ought to do your own investigative work and learn the context under which things are written, that’s critical thinking 101 el presidente, oh wait, the context under which the article was written was in the article itself. Take it for what it was. Second off, apart from yourself, who cares? Seriously, I’ll find some of your “brothers” (stop paying your dues and see who your ‘brothers’ really are) and I can guarantee you, that they probably don’t care. If they read the article, some of them would probably think, ‘oh, wow, that wasn’t a bad article, kind of ironic that it started from our “guerrilla ad campaign” in “our beloved Free Speech Area over the past two weeks.” On another note “guerrilla ad campaign, beloved Free Speech Area,” are you for real man. Who says that? You remind of BJ Novak’s character Ryan from NBC’s The Office. The character’s role is that of a complete suck up and that of a tool. You exemplify both in flying colors in your letter to the editor. You try and make the point that because of Willis’s article your frat lost pledges. You didn’t lose pledges because of this article, you never had pledges…that’s why you were running an ad campaign. It sounds to me like you wanted free publicity, as stated by Scout, but you guys don’t deserve it. What have you or your frat done to deserve such an article. When I walked through our ‘beloved free speech area,’ and saw the ‘ask her’ junk written all over the place, my thought was “wow, that area was really looking good what with the new library and all, until all this ‘graffiti’ was written all over the place. I thought great now it looks like south central la now.” Thank you for this fine addition to our campus.Thank you for your obnoxious and unwelcome ad campaign. By the way, griping (or complaining) like that makes you look like an elitist (or in your language, a person who thinks they are better than everyone else), which isn’t something you would want to have attached to your frats name while you are trying to welcome people (pledges in your lingo). Folks like are you why people don’t like frats. You are actively adding to the negative stereotypes that non greeks have of the greek system through your petty wining and egotistical sense of entitlement. Willis’ article probably helped your frat out more than your letter. People who read the article probably found themselves asking ‘what is the ask her thing all about,’ which had they followed their question would led them to you. Where as should they read your letter, they’ll think, ‘wow, this guy’s a jerk.’ In short, get over yourself and use a better ad campaign to reach those you are trying to sell to.
Respectively,
a rather annoyed Fresno State student
whatever • Feb 18, 2009 at 1:55 pm
ROFL i wonder if Burger King starts blaming everyone else if one of their ad campaigns fail.
whatever • Feb 18, 2009 at 8:55 pm
ROFL i wonder if Burger King starts blaming everyone else if one of their ad campaigns fail.
Scout • Feb 18, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Isn’t it a bit self centered to be upset that someone took your vague campaign and saw it as something entirely different?
Then you get mad that he wrote a self serving article about his inability to ask girls out, because it wasn’t what you wanted him to think about it?
Advertising is about evoking emotions in people, if your ad’s are too vague to be understood by the common person, then you run the risk of them coming up with their own ideas and responses to it, even if you ran it two years ago. Who’s to say he was there two years ago.
Personally, you come off very self absorbed.
“Instead, Mr. Willis decided to take a hard worked guerilla ad campaign …” That you copied off 2 years ago?
Scout • Feb 18, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Isn’t it a bit self centered to be upset that someone took your vague campaign and saw it as something entirely different?
Then you get mad that he wrote a self serving article about his inability to ask girls out, because it wasn’t what you wanted him to think about it?
Advertising is about evoking emotions in people, if your ad’s are too vague to be understood by the common person, then you run the risk of them coming up with their own ideas and responses to it, even if you ran it two years ago. Who’s to say he was there two years ago.
Personally, you come off very self absorbed.
“Instead, Mr. Willis decided to take a hard worked guerilla ad campaign …” That you copied off 2 years ago?