Opinion: Homecoming videos fail to inspire

The lack of school spirit on this campus has been cause for concern ever since I began attending in 2008, particularly as A&M-Commerce attempts to attract and retain more and more students each year. This year's Homecoming festivities were particularly disappointing, although this had nothing to do with student spirit or participation.

The university has been hit or miss in successfully marketing its events to students in recent years. A great example is the recent football game between A&M-Commerce and Tarleton State, which was broadcast live on TXA 21. The first televised game in school history had less than 2,000 students, alumni and visitors attend. I am almost always disappointed by student attendance and participation in most university events.

That's why I was particularly frustrated with a set of Homecoming videos that were recently produced by A&M-Commerce. It is not that these videos were poorly made. In fact, the quality and shooting of these videos was impressive. It was the content, or lack thereof, that left me wondering why we spent time, money and effort in creating these short clips.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, then my point is made. If you didn't see these videos, then how effective were they, really? If you haven't seen the videos, then let me break them down for you. There are five "Spirit" videos on the Lions Media YouTube channel, one of which was featured on the front page of the A&M-Commerce website for a few days leading up to Homecoming. The videos are between 15 and 31 seconds long and feature A&M-Commerce students and the A&M-Commerce mascot, Lucky the Lion.

The first video, titled "Psycho Spirit," shows an A&M-Commerce female student in the shower being startled by and subsequently dancing with Lucky. The scene is a reference to a very famous scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."

"Situation Spirit," the second video, consists of Lucky pumping his fist for a few seconds before lifting up his shirt to reveal a well-toned stomach, paying homage to the popular MTV show "Jersey Shore."

The third video, "Raw Spirit," is a sweeping shot of three students eating raw vegetables and Lucky sitting in front of a huge piece of raw meat.

"Wild Spirit" depicts A&M-Commerce Student Government Association President Taylor Fore giving a speech before being tackled by Lucky.

The final and most ridiculous one is "Big Spirit." This video shows Lucky walking into a figure drawing class on campus and exposing himself amid "oohs" and "aahs" from the class.

Now whether or not you find these videos humorous or appropriate is a matter of preference. Personally, I thought that they were a relatively irrelevant combination of pop-culture references. But let's look at the purpose of the spirit videos and see if they accomplished it.

Obviously, these videos were intended to increase school spirit for Homecoming. How exactly, I have no idea. None of these videos encouraged students to attend specific Homecoming events or provided relevant information about Homecoming. Just a short clip, a "spirit" reference, the date of Homecoming and a website. None of these videos made me want to attend a Homecoming event. I wasn't entertained or informed.

If the university really wants better attendance at A&M-Commerce events, then maybe they should work at actually advertising these events instead of simply demonstrating their aptitude for shooting and editing short video clips.