The ultimate plight that student-run organizations face on college campuses is how to effectively spread the word that they exist and sometimes put on events. Especially on campuses with smaller populations, the ability to spread the word ultimately determines many organizations’ fate.
Forms of spreading the word that I have seen include professors promoting the ‘social calendar’ at the beginning of class sessions, endless Facebook event invitations, and, of course, posters. These days the preferable mode for young people to communicate and organize appears to be social media. It is convenient, quick, and with the use of smart phones, everyone is guaranteed to have the latest news readily available at their fingertips.
I, however, would like to argue from personal experience that the most effective strategy for ingraining any type of message in an unsuspecting individual’s head is the placement of posters in bathroom stalls.
The impact of this is easy to imagine. For those who embrace habitual living like I do and always use the same stall in the bathroom, just imagine reading the same poster over and over again each time a trip is made. Seeing or hearing something repetitiously is (probably…) scientifically proven to reinforce it in the memory. I have heard it said that when learning a language, three times is the charm for hearing a word before it becomes a part of the learner’s permanent vocabulary.
In my experience, it is as simple as these words: Todd Carey. I do not know anything about Todd Carey other than that he sings; however, his smiling face is forever ingrained in my memory after seeing his toothy smile morning, afternoon, and evening for weeks when someone decided to place a poster advertising his performance in my unofficial stall. Now, in a way, I feel like I know him, though I've never even heard him sing.
Putting posters in bathroom stalls is a rich idea. It takes a very personal space, violently intrudes on the expectations one has for that space, and capitalizes on the feeling of vulnerability by attacking unsuspecting toilet-goers.
I have learned what the term ‘womanism’ means, how transgender people identify sexually, and of the many support systems in line at my school in the event of a traumatic situation. Something about bathroom posters felt abrasive at first, but now it makes sense to me. College is a place of learning, so it seems fitting, after all, to do so even on the toilet.
