Crisis PR: Sorority In Trouble for Being Happy and Fun
They’re young, they’re hot, and they’re happy. Guess which attribute got an Alabama sorority in trouble? If you chose “All of the Above”, you get an “A” for the day. Bowing to the harsh competition between Greek organizations on campus, the ladies of Alpha Phi decided to go all out with their recruitment video. The production values are top notch, and the content is as fun, breezy and easy on the eyes as it can be. The reaction of most sane people? Hey, those girls look like they’re having a good time at college. I might want to check that out.
But that reaction is not good enough for the haters who, for better or worse, troll the ‘net for just this sort of happiness to condemn. A writer called “A.L. Bailey” penned a shrieking screed of a column aimed at denouncing the video and all the girls it represented. Because, apparently, the video did not represent what Bailey believes sorority recruitment videos are supposed to represent.
Instead of frolicking coeds having fun at the lake, shopping, hanging out on the quad or just being girls, Bailey insisted the video only portray serious students involved in charity work. Look, there’s a lot to be said about studying hard and even more reason to promote good works, but remember what they said about “all work and no play?”
Put it another way … who is joining a sorority so they can study hard and feed the homeless? Aren’t they joining for sisterhood, fun, and camaraderie? For connections, opportunities, and to enrich their social lives at college? If that’s the goal, then the video is a home run … with nary a word of dialog spoken, the message comes out loud and clear.
Most people apparently agree. Though there are a relative few that agree with Bailey. If nothing else, Bailey succeeded in one thing – generating tons of eyes and clicks on the site AL.com. He or she also succeeded in giving a video with already 500,000 views a massive new audience. As one father of a soon-to-be college student said: “Definitely sending my son to ‘Bama. Roll Tide.”
Or, perhaps even more succinctly stated, the gal who opined: “So, yeah, there’s babes at college. Like that’s news.”
Well, apparently so.
They’re young, they’re hot, and they’re happy. Guess which attribute got an Alabama sorority in trouble? If you chose “All of the Above”, you get an “A” for the day. Bowing to the harsh competition between Greek organizations on campus, the ladies of Alpha Phi decided to go all out with their recruitment video. The production values are top notch, and the content is as fun, breezy and easy on the eyes as it can be. The reaction of most sane people? Hey, those girls look like they’re having a good time at college. I might want to check that out. But that reaction is not good enough for the haters who, for better or worse, troll the ‘net for…