Management maintains a course of dialogue
The senior management team has discussed how prominent a role commercial companies should be allowed to play on campus. After the summer holidays, a dialogue will begin with the student associations.
Following Omnibus articles about the energy drink company Red Bull’s extensive presence on campus in Aarhus, University Director Kristian Thorn has initiated a discussion on the limits of commercial companies’ presence in students’ everyday lives at the university.
Red Bull pushes the boundaries at AU
“This case calls for reflection on whether we have the right balance. This does not apply specifically to Red Bull but to any commercial activity and brand. It’s about when it overshadows our core purpose as a university,” he says, continuing:
“Due to the attention that has now been drawn to a particular actor’s presence on campus, I will take the initiative to discuss within the senior management team whether we have the right balance.”
As Omnibus has described, the mega-brand Red Bull is here, there, and everywhere in students' everyday lives, with student employees handing out free energy drinks, organizing events, and ensuring that Red Bull's products receive the greatest possible exposure to their fellow students.
In the articles, experts described how the students are carefully selected, how Red Bull's marketing strategy constantly tries to break down the students' critical judgement, and how Red Bull is skilled at capitalising on society’s current focus on performance by marketing itself as something you need in order to optimise yourself and perform.
Dialogue after the summer holidays
The senior management team has now discussed the balance and decided to continue along the path of dialogue.
"The rector's office and the individual deans are entering into dialogue with the student associations with the aim of increasing awareness surrounding the balance between commercial activities and the academic and social study environment. Commercial activities can play a role but must not overshadow the many good and important activities that the student associations themselves run," says University Director Kristian Thorn about the outcome of the management's discussion.
When the Regatta drew more than 30.000 students to the University Park earlier this year, Red Bull’s presence was impossible to miss.
The Regatta is organised by the student association Umbilicus, the student social committee for Medicine, and Daniel Vestergaard and Emil Ebbensgaard, who were jointly responsible for organising the event, made no secret of Red Bull's central role when Omnibus asked about the collaboration with the company.
Red Bull gives the Regatta wiiings
After the summer holidays, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Lise Wognsen Bach, will initiate dialogue with student associations at the faculty, including Umbilicus.
"We want a vibrant study environment with committed student associations and relevant partners. But the university should not become an arena where commercial brands set the agenda or become a natural part of everyday life on campus. I would really like to discuss this balance with the student associations after the summer holidays based on the revised guidelines," writes Lise Wognsen Bach to Omnibus.
This text is machine translated and post-edited by Mie Skov Jeppesen.