Campus Crusade for Marty?

            “Do you agree with Marty?” 

            If you have been anywhere near the University of North Carolina campus in the past week, you have seen this phrase, or some variation of it, written on a sidewalk, on a posted sheet of paper or on a bright orange t-shirt.  Exposure to the phrase, however, does little to explain its purpose. 

            “Do you agree with Marty?” is a slogan, an ambiguous question intended to generate interest.  The slogan itself has little, if anything to do with the true purpose behind it. 

            The slogan first appeared last week on campus walkways, but the message was not revealed until Marty Baldwin, a UNC Junior, authored an ad that appeared in the Monday addition of the Daily Tar Heel.  The ad is an account of Marty’s personal relationship with God and is intended to give UNC students a forum to discuss religion.  The bad news for Marty and all those that agree with him, is that the majority of the dialogue created by the slogan and the ad itself is about Marty.

            By introducing the slogan a week before the actual ad ran, Marty and company took all the emphasis off their message and placed it squarely on their figurehead.  Members of the group, which include campus religious organizations such as the Campus Crusade for Christ, claim that the campaign really is not about Marty at all.  The campaign, they say, is about God.  Students, however, did not find out that the campaign is supposed to be about God until the ad appeared.  Despite disclosing the true intent of the campaign, the emphasis never left Marty. 

            The same day the ad ran hundreds of students involved in the campaign wore bright orange shirts with the slogan “I agree with Marty” across the chest.  Because the orange is impossible to miss, even from across campus, the group once again caught the attention of the student body.  The student’s attention, however, was still directed towards Marty, not the group’s message or God. 

            Students were never given reason to believe that the campaign was about anything other than Marty.  They campaign was very successful in generating interest on campus, but little of that interest is about the message.  Despite their best efforts to generate discussion about God, the group only generated dialogue about one man who believes in God—Marty.

*This editorial was writen on April 1, 2001 for a class

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