It's entertaining for me as more than a decade ago I worked in marketing at this university and I'd heard my manager propose this tagline "Think again" back then.
I thought it was a beaut line because it spoke to me of the intellectual invigoration I've enjoyed while studying.
But I think the realisation of the idea in this advert is terrible.
One thing that was reinforced during my time marketing education was the value of smiling faces. During my undergraduate studies they described the process of hailing a viewer and a smiling face can be very engaging and create a positive predisposition for marketing messages.
So the back of the head seems particularly counter-intuitive. I mean, I can understand that she may be an "everywoman" but the connotation could be that she's turned her back on the viewer or, worse, the university is keen to see the back of her.
The Photoshopped style of combining the back of the head with the vineyard also seems lacking. My partner suggest that she's looking at greener pastures but I'd guess it's meant to reflect that one can study wine-making at this university.
For me this advert reminds me of my time as both a marketer and student at this university and the change of attitude that accompanied moving from one role to the other.
I'd embraced promoting education because I believe it is an opportunity to improve one's self and career.
Then I'd decided to educate myself and found discrepancies began to appear everywhere I looked. One of the courses was ridiculously difficult with one subject alone requiring writing more than 12,000 words over two essays and an extended exam; while in the other course the lecturers didn't set readings and didn't correct typos or grammar in written assignments.
Anyway, it's been interesting to revisit these experiences because it contributed to my disillusionment with education and factory-like process of molding people for so-called careers. It's still fascinating to me how many people end up in jobs they didn't anticipate working, especially as casualisation takes pace and the roles for robots in workplaces increase.
