Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Where You Read a Blog Post

I was riding the commuter rail tonight when I saw an ad for the Massachusetts School of Law. Their slogan?
Where You Learn to Become a Lawyer
Isn't that, uh, fairly well understood? Anyone even remotely considering becoming a lawyer would, you'd think, already be aware of the fact that a law school is where one would naturally go.

Of course, I don't want to be too snarky; that sort of unhyped honesty is refreshing. I've never seen an ad like "New England School of Dentistry: Where You Learn to Fix Teeth," but that might be more pleasant to read on the train than the typical obnoxiously overeager ad copy.

Maybe this advertising concept could spread to job listings: "Join BigCorp: Where Your Soul Slowly Slips Away." Or "Hedge Funds 'R' Us: Where You Make Tons of Cash When You're Not Trying to Explain to Your Family that You Didn't Personally Cause the Global Economic Meltdown."

Back to academia: I double-majored in comparative literature and philosophy in college. What would  the departmental slogans be? "Comparative Literature: Where You Learn to Compare Literature." Hmmm. What DID I do in the comp lit department? Hard to say.  "Philosophy: Where You..." I won't even finish that one--it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

The slogan for the whole university is "In Deo Speramus," or, "In God We Hope." Quite vague. Hard to find a focus or mission in a broad statement like that. In contrast, "Where You Learn to Become a Lawyer" has a nice ring to it. A pleasing, simple certainty.