I think my biggest issue with them is that they completely miss the point on what makes The Ohio State University great. By focusing on individual “achievements” (if you want to call using mommy and daddy’s money to study abroad an achievement), those types of university commercials presume that what makes the university great is ultimately reducible to individuals “doing something great”, but that’s not right. What’s great about The Ohio State University is not reducible to the sum of its parts, nor is it any one thing that stands out above all others. It’s everything about the university, but not just the cumulative effect of it. It’s this special “place”, this “thing” that’s hard to really put into words, but we all love so dearly. I think the recent string of university commercials (before the O-H-I-O one) have all tried to push the theme of “Do Something Great”, which is great in principle, but was terrible in execution. Those commercials only come off as catering to a prospective student’s ego when really it should cater to a purpose of selflessness. They even botched the dotting the I commercial by managing to make the guy in question look me-focused. The university commercials need to move beyond “me” to “us”. I think the O-H-I-O commercials perfectly capture that sense of community, and I think the recent 80s commercials I uploaded capture the essence of “the university” as this holistic entity that can’t adequately be quantified. The Ohio State University is bigger than all of us, and I know that’s something I would’ve liked to hear if I was a high school senior looking at colleges.

But alas, I obsess about weird things in life…

I’m a huge fan of the recent O-H-I-O commercials and before that, the really confusing technical vernacular about really confusing concepts that no one understands.