Intrusive Advertising

Obviously we have been seeing all sorts of advertisement in the last decade, from the evolvement of the television to the radio advertisement and also now to the internet medium.

Advertising has served its purpose of providing information to the consumers and creating awareness, and at times providing a community service to the public. For example I really appreciate the advertising companies in my country, Malaysia which beautified the a whole train station and a bridge which was made out of ugly concrete, transforming it to the whole theme for a telecommunications comapany.

But isn't it too much of 'intrusive' advertising lately? I mean having them on tables and public transports are all fine, they do subsidise some of our expenses and occasionally we do get worthy freebies from the advertising.

Recently, it is more of a invasion of priacy in evry turn of the corner. You can see them in handle bars on the commuters, milk cartons, restaurant napkins, public mirrors and worst of all, in lavatories !!! Wake up advertisers, you get the consumer's attention but you annoy them as well and to the companies who approve as such advertising, have some sense !!! Do you want your brand names to be tarnished?

Case in point, i recently was in the lavatory of my college and while i was taking a leak and staring at the wall; WOW!!! An ad for a book which says Dare To Fail :), later as I washed my hands and looked up to the mirror, to my dismay and shock i am suddenly wearing glasses and have grown a moustache with flies hovering around my hair. No that was not me! It was some stupid graphic pasted on the mirror which advertised the Clorects fresh mints saying your breath matters first before your looks!!!

What I am trying to say here to the advertisers is "DON'T GO OVERBROAD!". Give the consumers some space, advertise in a savvy way, one which the consumers appreciate. A very good example would be the ads which advises cinema-goers to switch off their cell-phones, and they know it's from Nokia. Yeah, you may get our attention but if it backfires by annoying us, the brand name you are advertising for gets tarnished!!! So brand name companies, look out because it's your brand which gets shown not the advertising agency's.

EPT : Error Prone Team or English Placement Test ?

You really can't blame people for the English Placement Test acronym EPT as the Error Prone Theme, but all in all it shows the inefficiencies of a large department like SITM in Sunway College. What am I exactly talking about ? Read on, I will explain.

Recently it seems that SITM has been more strict with its intake of students, requiring them to take an English test as an assessment on their English language proficiency. It seems that it is required to enter a course and if you fail in the exam you will be placed under a 3-month English course. So far so good, as I definitely see this as a start for ensuring better quality courses from the department of SITM (the college as well) while it strives to improve assessment of its new students.

The problem here is that lecturers and coordinators says that it is COMPULSORY for all students while the brochure that the college distributes varies widely.

In the brochure it states, "Students are required to take an English Placement Test (EPT) except if the have the following results". This statement is then followed by a list of examinations and their minimum required marks, in which the student has to fulfill any one of them to be exempted form the EPT.

Picture scan of the particular part on the brochure.

Now, I and along with a few of my friends who have gained distinction in our SPM/O'Levels English subject was still required to take this exam. Why? I assume this would be the inefficiency of communication between the department of SITM and the marketing department. God knows.

At the very least when you place standards or regulations, adhere by it. Or at least if you do not plan to do that, do not advertise it to the public. While it was alright for me to take the exam but I wonder what inconvenience it would have caused those who really had important arrangements at that particular time? Maybe the programme is still new and in time they will slowly enforce it correctly. Only time will tell.

Document Scans (Click on link to view)
Complete brochure :
http://server2.uploadit.org/files/lordshadow-brochure.jpg

Timetable stating EPT is compulsory :
http://server3.uploadit.org/files/lordshadow-tt002.jpg