SpotUniversities

Apps, bags, caps, cups, cuffs, darts, dice and many other toys and products; lots of megastar happenings, bursting with spike heels and ties, bare arms and shoulders, flash photos and lively music; and, most of all, spot ads, posters and logos. This is not the incomplete index verborum of a new marketing handbook, but the list of what has begun to become widespread in universities since the 1990s. Advertising universities is an elaborate art: firstly because the product for sale is not a mere object, but the key moment in life, when the customer leaves behind his youth and gains a more definite identity, both professional and personal; and secondly because the ordinary wares are ‘cool’, that is to say, they always ensure the customer’s enjoyment and therefore conform fully to consumerist hedonism, whereas research and study imply the opposite: labour, diligence and seriousness. Nevertheless, the more up-to-date universities act like leading companies and arm themselves with the skill of many advertising agents and economists, struggling to position their brand against the competition: all that affects both private and state universities, both Italy and foreign countries (US, UK, France, etc.). From a philological viewpoint, broadened and made sharper by studies of cognitive science, visual culture and advertising, this paper examines the academic market by considering mainly advertising spots and posters, and to a smaller extent stores and advertising happenings; particular attention is paid to the university from which the two authors have been graduated (Ca’ Foscari), but many pages have been written on others as well (Yale, Oxford, Bologna University, etc.). SpotUniversities analyses a still unstudied issue by laying bare the rules of the game, but the analysis implies also frequently avoided questions, such as: To what extent is it right to commodify and spectacularize university education?, and: Is it appropriate to sell within universities goods like penholders, pennants, pillboxes (!), sweatshirts, T-shirts, etc.?