Corporate Break

As far back as I can remember, flipping through the channels around this time of year always yields some sort of TV show chronicling the fanatical college students that flock to Florida beaches in hordes to drink, dance and bare it all on spring break. Some of the events are staged, filmed and broadcast in constant repetition with the help of MTV; others are brought to you by the good people from various corporate sponsors. One thing is for sure, no one is letting the college market take a vacation. While this sounds like all sorts of fun, I was far too exhausted for a good time of this caliber.\nTherefore, my spring break was possibly the furthest you can get from mirroring the white sand and the “brought-to-you-by-our-friends-at (insert sponsor here)-” wet-T-shirt contests of a MTV episode – and not just because of the 1,800-something miles that separate Panama City from where I spent the majority of my time – Moab, Utah. \nI decided to join 12 of IUs finest ladies and gents for a western-bound road trip. Our destination: camping and climbing in the vast flats and deserts of the great state of Utah. Sure there were apprehensions about trading my cell phone, Internet connection and busy schedule for hiking boots, particularly when it came to leaving my favorite pastimes: caffeine and politics. But, at least in Utah no one was going to try to sell me anything. We saw nearly no advertising for the duration of our time, aside, of course, from a flier under our windshield wiper once that was part of an unsuccessful campaign to attract tourists to Mormonism. Beside the fact that backpackers and climbers flaunt more North Face than the Ballantine Hall stairwell, in the backcountry, we successfully escaped product placement, even if it meant not showering for 10 days.\nStill, product promotion has had a long love affair with spring-break excursions. According to a Washington Post article, “An Ocean of Promotion,” corporate sponsors have been courting college students on vacation as far back as 1964 when “the Ford Caravan of Music arrived, sponsoring ‘folk and jazz wingdings.’” \nThis year’s corporate sponsors included Neutrogena, Geico, Trojan and even the U.S. Army. There were free oxygen bars, massages, skin-care products, Sobe and hats, you name it, corporations were giving it away. Heck, just by signing up for a credit card you could get a free T-shirt!\nIt’s not that I’m entirely opposed to a good time. I’m just opposed to having that good time at the expense of our generation’s reputation, or more accurately, the furthering of our status as a dollar sign. Is our allegiance really so easily bought with free Vitamin Water and Venus Breeze razors? \nIt comes down to weighing the little things in life, like determining what’s worth more: your dignity or a whole case of energy drinks, getting a free T-shirt or securing a responsible financial status. Don’t get me wrong, I love consumerism, freebies, tasteful product placement and effective public relations campaigns. It’s only the American way. But college students are bombarded with media messages, sales pitches and corporate branding night and day. I think we deserve a vacation, if only for one week.