Colleges May Have Fumbled the Mascot Rebrand

Students come together under the institution’s iconic colors and logos, magnetic mascots and fans’ chants that echo throughout the stadium. It’s a unifying experience, one that continues when alumni don their old college T-shirt and turn on Saturday football games. “Having a symbol that people can recognize on a sweatshirt is something that brings the community together,” says Michael Lewis, a professor of marketing at Emory University. “Football and basketball, in particular, represent the touch points for the whole community. Whether or not that’s how academia should be, that’s how academia is. That’s the incident that bonds people together.”