Corporate sponsorship causes controversy

Posted on 03/12/08
Written by Nicole Crozier

The Bluenotes promotional event in the Student Campus Centre last week has created controversy around the issue of responsible corporate advertising in student space.

“Students have the right not to be advertised at all the time and should be able to reserve the right to an ad-free zone, especially in the student centre,” said Nora Loreto, president of the Ryerson Students’ Union. She said she is, “not happy with the Bluenotes campaign.”

Last February, the clothing retailer became a controversial figure after they released a line of T-shirts with the slogan, No Means Have Another Drink.
The Canadian Federation of Students pressured the company to pull the shirts off shelves because of the connection to their date rape slogan, No Means No.

Following the retraction, the company created No Means No T-shirts and donated part of the revenue to the CFS.

Michael Verticchio, manager of the Student Campus Centre, doesn’t think that Bluenotes is especially controversial.

“No red flags went off,” he said when the request for the booking came from Bluenotes. He accepted the request and company representatives spent a few days last week in the Student Centre.

“Bluenotes works with the Canadian Federation of Students so I didn’t see a problem,” Vertichio said. “It just bad timing,” he said referring to the corporate awareness events that were happening around campus at the same time as Bluenotes was promoting itself in the Student Campus Centre.

Neither the Ryerson Students Union nor the Student Campus Center has an official policy regarding corporate advertising.

The Student Campus Centre operates in a way that money can be made by booking space to clients. Loreto says that there is an internal conflict, “on how we should book the space.”

She says that looming deficit problems are finding the “RSU trying to make additional revenue from corporations.”

Chris Drew, RSU’s VP Finance and Services didn’t know Bluenotes would be booking the Student Campus Centre, since the SCC handles its bookings separately from the RSU.

“I thought what they did was completely unacceptable,” he said of Bluenotes’ T-shirt slogan controversy. “In the future anytime we are agreeing on any form of sponsorship we need to exercise due diligence and care not to cause any students, any harm."