The Olympian

Over the past couple of weeks, I've received numerous comments on the full-page Toys Topless advertisement on the back page of issue 9 of The Olympian. And to be frank, I love every bit of it.

Many don't agree with the content, finding that it "cheapens" Olympic College. After much thought, I still don't understand how one paid, legal advertisement in a student newspaper can "cheapen" an entire college of 10,000.

In no way could the Associated Students of Olympic College fully fund The Olympian. We're forced to fend for ourselves, sometimes resorting to staff cuts to save money (The Olympian has one fewer staff member this year). Advertising helps this process and contributes to education in numerous ways.

Not only is a large sum of money brought into The Olympian from Toys Topless, but it also provides valuable sales experience for the advertising manager. Also, by Toys choosing to target the college market, that money goes into the college coffers, making The Olympian one of the few student programs that bring in money.

There's always more than one way to look at an issue. With this issue, one side is often looked at while the other seems to be ignored.

Many people have made the comment that the ad "demeans a majority of women." One cannot make a broad statement about all women. It's a stereotype that is just as bad as any of the others.

The advertisement brings in a substantial amount of money into The Olympian, supporting the journalism program and the paper. This money will allow us to run color issues for the remainder of the year, which readers find appealing. Secondly, it will allow The Olympian to purchase desperately needed camera equipment as well as refreshing our 9-year-old computers.

College is expensive. We all know this. Assuming one spends $120 per credit (tuition, books, fees, gas and supplies), an associate's degree will cost $10,800. Financial aid and scholarships aren't always options for all, so if a young woman feels that she needs to strip to pay for school, at least she is willing to do what it takes to get her education.

What strikes me as odd is that I've received no complaints of other potentially questionable advertising (Pied Pipers, the Marines, Planned Parenthood), but I've lost track as to how many people have complained about this ad.

The full-page ad isn't some way to fill space. By having this large ad, stories that were supposed to run last issue had to be held until this issue. For an editor, ads can become a pain because they take priority over editioral content.

For a college that heavily promotes the First Amendment, freedom of ideas and thought and the rights of all Americans, many at OC are awfully closed minded when it comes to this issue.

There's always something great in things that seem awful. In this case, people are picking up The Olympian and talking. It's every editor's dream.

Unfortunately, they aren't talking about the editorial content. Rather, they're talking about the advertising that funds the editorial content. In all honesty, it's sad.

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