Southwestern State College is playing dirty on TikTok
Advertising on TikTok is an absolute must for any institution looking to reach out to a mass audience. Many brands use innovative strategies to advertise themselves on the platform; however, a Nepali college has resorted to a cheap tactic on TikTok by using its students to lure new admits. While colleges are a center for intellectual progress, Southwestern State College (SWSC) is shamelessly announcing its admission notice via female students performing dance moves to the trending tunes on TikTok. This reprehensible move by the college administration is utterly unethical and promotes a social detriment.
The college profile flaunts a bio asserting itself as one of the reputed colleges of Kathmandu, Nepal. Indeed, SWSC is one of the reputed colleges, but the amount of counterproductive comments in the videos has compelled it to turn off the comment section in many videos. What is more deplorable is that one of the videos, which was deleted, showed dancing female students along with a caption that read – Can’t Wait To Meet Juniors. Why on earth would senior female students, aspiring to enrich their academic life, be eager to wait for new entrants? Resorting to such a tactic only to catch the attention of potential admits is an act of utter degradation. It only insinuates that the college is invested on attracting new students by hook or crook at the expense of the objectification of its students.
This is a clear inference that SWSC is either unable or unwilling to discern the ethical aspect of advertising on TikTok by using its students. Moreover, it seems that the college is apathetic towards its perceived brand position in the market. Colleges are supposed to be the center of learning where students congregate to foster their academics as well as post-academic career skills, while simultaneously developing strong ethical values. SWSC seemingly wants to position itself on TikTok differently as an institution that promotes cheap tactics to gain personal benefits with no regard for social ramifications.
