Green shirts about more than school spirit
Brendan P. Harris
senior
I admit it. During Saturday's football game against Tennessee, I was one of those who did not heed the call to create a "sea of green" in Notre Dame Stadium. I wore The Shirt as a show of solidarity with both the football team and the students of this University. As a member of student government, one might have expected to see me supporting a "student led" effort to wear kelly green. However, it is my position in student government that allowed me to learn the real story behind the green campaign. Sad to say, I found that the real motivation behind the movement was not the unification of Notre Dame fans, but rather simple corporate greed.
On Monday, I learned that Robert Pazornik and a group of off-campus seniors had decided to push for everyone in the stadium — students, alumni and South Bend residents — to wear a single color to combat the Volunteer orange. This color was blue. The rationale was simple — the student body already had The Shirt, and almost everyone has a blue shirt in their closets somewhere. For those who came to campus in another color, a blue campaign would promote sales of The Shirt. This in turn would benefit the students of the University, as proceeds from The Shirt are split between student-run clubs and an emergency student aid fund.
These students approached Director of Athletics Kevin White with a coherent plan to publicize the "wearing of the blue" to those in the South Bend community and to alumni using a listserv administered by the Alumni Association. White was impressed by their initiative and pledged athletic department funds to support the campaign.
In the process of obtaining these funds, however, the plan hit a snag. Representatives from the bookstore and the adidas Corporation opposed the plan, as they had been planning for some time to mass-market green shirts this weekend. They hadn't yet notified the Athletic Department or White, but apparently their marketing plan was unstoppable. The blue/green conflict went to the University administration, and the decision was made that the students would only get University funding and listserv access for a unity campaign if they united behind the green shirt proposed by the bookstore and adidas.
Faced with a choice between green unity and none at all, the students chose to back the wearing of the green, hoping that the bookstore's marketing plan would be as effective as their own.
The results of this campaign were seen Saturday. Where was the "sea of green?" The student section was a puddle of green, but there was little support from the 60,000 other Irish fans in the stadium. Why did the campaign fail? The answer is simple. I'm not a marketing major, but even I know that beginning to publicize a campaign 24 hours before kickoff is not an effective strategy. For all of its corporate know-how, the bookstore management goofed on this one. One would think that if the kelly green shirts had been in the plans for weeks, the publicity campaign might be a little more advanced. At the very least, a simple phone call to White's office would have been appropriate. As it stands, the bookstore and adidas took money out of the hands of students, who had an effective week-long marketing strategy already laid out and threw it to the wind.
Let me make this clear: I wholeheartedly support fan unity at the football games and I support the student organizers of this unity effort. I seriously question, however, the motivation behind the bookstore promotion of kelly green and the University decision to support this effort over the recommendation of the students and the Athletic Department. As I said before, the promotion of blue would have led to increased funding for student clubs and emergency aid. Moreover, class councils, clubs and other organizations are not allowed to sell their own apparel at concession stands until The Shirt sells out, so by promoting a conflicting shirt, the bookstore, adidas and the University administration are preventing student organizations from raising funds that they need to survive.
Why would institutions that profess to care about this University community make such a decision? The only answer I can come up with is simple greed. The promotion of a new shirt brings in more money for the bookstore and adidas, plain and simple. If the bookstore really cared about unity, it would not be charging students $13 for a shirt that they will wear to two games. In fact, if it really cared about student unity, it would not be charging us money at all. But let's be truthful: the bookstore and adidas care nothing for Notre Dame students and the Irish football team. Their appeal to unity is a thin veil for yet another attempt to increase profit for Follett and adidas shareholders.
Throughout my three-plus years on this campus, I have continually heard the message that money is not everything in life, and it is a view that I personally espouse. To the Follett Corporation and the adidas Corporation: I ask you to demonstrate that your business philosophies have such a holistic theme. I request that you reimburse the students of this University for the monies we have lost through decreased sales of The Shirt this weekend by donating the proceeds from sales of the kelly green shirts to The Shirt Fund. University president Father Edward Malloy, I also respectfully ask you to take a serious look at Notre Dame's relationship with its corporate partners.
Follett and adidas have shown that they care about the well-being of this University community only because of the profit they can gain from us. Are they truly "partners" in our mission to develop students who will make this world a better place?
Brendan P. Harris
senior
Alumni Hall
Nov. 4, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, November 5, 2001
