Posted by madcityradio.com on January 12, 2010 at 22:21:34:
Madison360: UW's TV spot seems off-key
/Paul Fanlund/
Granted, I hardly ever miss a telecast of Badgers football or basketball, so maybe my complaint is related to overexposure. But am I the only one who finds the 30-second public service announcement broadcast during games to be annoying, even embarrassing, for a world-class research institution like UW-Madison?
The spot, "Cadence," (http://www.uc.wisc.edu/video/) touts the Wisconsin Idea, the principle first attributed to UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904, holding that "education should influence and improve people's lives beyond the university classroom." Speakers tout the benefits of their UW work or UW interaction, while members of the UW Marching Band play (loudly, very loudly) behind them. In this context, the populist message seems to be that UW-Madison is not some effete gaggle of high-highfalutin' intellectuals but instead real people whose work benefits those in the far corners of the state. But couldn't the message also reflect the UW's outstanding academic quality for a national audience? Just saying.