As I was reading a certain newspaper paper the other day, I was dumbstruck by an advertisement from www.your-thing.com that ran on the last page. The ad featured a list of ringtones, games and screensaver graphics for cell phone purchase. Aside from that oldie but goodie song, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)" by the music genius T-Pain; everyone's wedding favorite, "Bad B***h", by the classical artist Webbie; and what is now considered one of the best scores ever composed, "Because I Got High," by Afroman, the most noteworthy aspect of the advertisement had to do with five downloadable graphics of scantily clad women with sybaritic expressions writ large on their faces. For example, one of these femme fatales is unstringing her bikini bottom as if to say to any would-be buyer, 'Wherever your cell phone is, Big Boy, don't forget that I'm there, too.' Let this one example suffice for descriptions of the others.
Where did this advertisement run, you say? Why, in our very own school newspaper. That's right. In its Nov. 15 issue, The Marquette Tribune ran the Do-Your-Thing ad front and center on the last page.
Perhaps, if the paper I had been reading came from UW-Madison or UW-Milwaukee, I would have just ignored it. The advertisement gave me pause, however, because it ran in our school newspaper which, as you might've
also guessed, is published at a Catholic institution. Regardless of your religious background, it seems pretty clear that the content of the ad flies in the face of the morals and teachings of the Catholic Church.
More importantly, it ran counter to the vocation of Marquette University. Admittedly, I have never been a big fan of the omnipresent slogan, "Cura Personalis" or "Care of the Whole Person"… until now. How does such an ad respect, preserve and thereby care for human dignity? What message is our very own Tribune telling its readers? Are Tribune personnel going to say that they just needed the money to keep the paper solvent? I'd
rather the paper shut down for a period of time to get its house in order than sell itself to irresponsible advertisers at the cost of dehumanizing other people (Quite a different message is the Guesthouse of
Milwaukee ad which, right next to the Do-Your-Thing ad, says, "Help the homeless. Work for a purpose").
Will and should the Tribune hide behind the abused right of free speech? That, despite publishing a paper at a Catholic university, it is politically and legally free to voice its opinions even if contrary to Church teaching and the mission statement of the university? That it can run ads that, while disrespectful to some, keep the printing press operational? No doubt, the Tribune can justify its action in this way and probably will. If it does so, then it is simply refusing to police its own morally repugnant decision about advertising. If you, The Tribune,
refuse to police yourselves morally, then someone ought to compose an editorial questioning why university leaders permit an organization on campus to print content so undignified in light of the concept of Cura Personalis.