Close Reading: NYTimes Article - Marketing On College Campuses

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/at-colleges-the-marketers-are-everywhere.html?pagewanted=4&ref=general&src=me

This article is about marketing on college campuses through the students attending school there. Companies use students to market to their peers instead of sending older brand representatives to a campus where students won’t connect with them as well.

Diction

This is the New York Times we’re talking about here. Diction is a priority, even in editorials and opinion-based articles. Natasha Singer, the author, uses a professional tone throughout; this is clearly reflected in her word choice. She describes the way companies are “permeating” the university in a “multipronged effort” to increase sales among college students. Furthermore, she’s not afraid to use descriptive words for students, such as “wiry” and “gum-chewing 18-year-old” to give the reader a sense of what she’s seeing. Obviously this isn’t a standard New York Times article.

Details

Singer, in her four-page article, includes tons of details. She focuses on one major case-study, the University of North Carolina, where the marketing is taking place. In a somewhat subtle effort to prove the overbearing nature of this marketing, she uses examples like a move-in day that is crowded with helpers in American Eagle apparel, specific students marketing for brands such as H.P., and a U.N.C-held event that transports students to a SuperTarget every year for late-night shopping. There is no direct thesis in this article where Singer tries to force her opinion on the reader; it’s more of a muted message that shows the reader, through detailed examples, how excessive this on-campus marketing is.

Language

Again, let’s remember the source of the article: the New York Times. As was obvious with the diction that Singer employed, this article caters to a higher-level reader than the average college student (which, somewhat ironically, is what the subject of the article is). She tells most of the article in story-like fashion, including lots of descriptive language to bring the reader into the story she’s telling. For example, she begins the article with a campus welcome-week scene, describing the upperclassmen happily helping the freshmen with their belongings. “But wait:” she goes on, “there is something odd, or at least oddly corporate, about this welcome wagon.” She then continues to describe the clothing that all of the helpers are wearing, almost forcing the reader to imagine the scene. Her tone is definitely relatable, and the storytelling fashion allows a reader to skim through the article comfortably without feeling stifled by the language that is employed.