An opinion for him and her

Would you say college students are "savvy, trend-conscious and independent?"\nThe members of an organization known as 360 Youth certainly would. But from what can be inferred by examining the contents of its gender specific "Campus Trial Pak," spelled without the 'c' to appeal to the young audience that despises silent letters, it seems that they have a few other preconceived notions of exactly what a typical college student should be.\nHanded out at the IU Bookstore, the trial "paks" boast a convenient sampling of a few of the "essentials" for every college student arriving anew on campus. \nThat is, depending on whether or not you have two X chromosomes.\nFor the men, it was simple enough. The hard working patriarchs needed their sustenance, hence the Combos salted snacks. The potent odor emanating from the master hunters was to be mollified by a sampling of Old Spice. And for the gladiator-in-training, ads for Adidas sports accessories, "developed for athletes," but apparently not for women.\nThe matrons of the campus received a very different cornucopia of goodies. For the little homemakers, a package of detergent was included so they could keep their garments clean -- men must never need to do laundry. The women also received a razor to keep their appearance dainty and a mirror to make sure it was never mussed by the summer heat. Not to mention tampons and a heating pad to aid them during that "time of the month."\n360 Youth is the marketing and media arm of Alloy, Inc. It seems to have a wealth of research and numbers at its disposal. \nBut apparently, they seem to think that we still live in the 1950s.\nIt almost blew our minds when we opened the "for him" and "for her" cardboard boxes. Did the University get a chance to peruse what was inside?\nWe've almost been pummeled to death with P.C. jargon to the point where almost any complaint feels to be belaboring the issue at hand, but there are times when something such as this will appear to be such a blatant call back to the days of "duck and cover" that we find it laughable. \nFor a company that boasts, "Our 15 years experience in the market make us the leader in reaching the crucial multicultural market," would be sensitive enough to operate within the multi-gender market. \nThe ticker at the bottom of its Web page, however, lets us understand exactly what's at the heart of 360 Youth's motivations. \n"78 percent of young adults said friends who are 'in the know' hear about new products from magazines."\nWell, 100 percent of the IDS feels that 360 Youth thinks they know, but they have no idea.