RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Shivering students, wrapped in layers of bulky winter clothing at Adventist colleges across the nation are being treated to what many consider to be infuriating La Sierra University advertising.
The Southern Californian school’s ‘We Have Hotter Students” campaign took out full page advertising in the student newspapers of every other Adventist college. The color ad features attractive, smiling students in summer wear strolling effortlessly down a sun-flooded sidewalk, seemingly without a care in the world. Below the picture, each ad has been customized to list the host school’s blizzard-like winter weather next to a Riverside weather forecast featuring ‘winter’ temperatures firmly in the 70s.
Enrollment departments across Adventist America have lined up to condemn the advertising as opportunistic and insensitive. La Sierra’s recruiters, however, are showing absolutely no remorse.
“Listen, we’ve got it and you better believe we are going to flaunt it,” said Mark Garcia, a La Sierra Marketing spokesperson. “As Adventists we are big on the importance of inner beauty but hey, it doesn’t have to stop there. This is Southern California and we believe in looking our best!”
“It’s what you would expect from celebrity-driven greater Los Angeles,” said Andrews University-based Graphic Design professor, Sandra Judd, adjusting her mittens. “Adventist college education is a super competitive landscape and schools will do whatever it takes to stand out. Clearly, La Sierra thinks that pretty people and sunshine are their edge.”
