<p>Knights:</p>
<p>I assume you have seen the ad (Mom2, sorry, I couldn’t find it on you tube or the university’s own site. They play UF on national TV this week, maybe they will show this particular spot then), so just a quick recap. An African-American student, fake school hats laid out in front of him, students, mascot and dorm room people all waiting with baited breath…Then he anounces he is going to South Carolina to study International Business. Intent? To show how big a deal it is to enter SC’s top rated International Business program. But why first reinforce the “if your African-American, you only get in as a jock” stereotype with the whole production. The casual observer not paying too much attention to the commercial might just think it is an actual athletic scholarship signing. Heck, I don’t think it ever mentions he got in on an academic scholarship.</p>
<p>You mean to tell me the chairs in their Top Flight IB program want their program used in such a way? Couldn’t SC just get a group of their IB students and alums, different races, genders, etc. in front of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall, the Sydney Opera House or the Tower Bridge talking about what the program has done for them? More powerful to me, but maybe I am too sensitive to what they were trying to do.</p>