Central Michigan University Sends Out CMU Keyboard Stickers, Instantly Regrets It

Marketing in 2022 is increasingly difficult. Between traditional media and emerging ones like social and streaming platforms, there's never been more competition for attention spans.

That kind of advertising bind isn't only felt by big retailers. Large public colleges face the same challenges. Central Michigan University is a good example.

And CMU quite literally can't afford to lose any more marketing efficacy.

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In 2010, CMU's enrollment stood at 28,389. In 2021, that number had declined to 15,465 — a 45 percent downturn. CMU went from Michigan's fourth-largest public university in 2012 to seventh-largest last year. The school has hemorrhaged students, putting heightened priority on its recruiting efforts.

Perhaps that's why Central Michigan's marketing team came up with the idea of sending out keyboard stickers for students to place over the letters C,M, and U on their computers and laptops.

Seems like a simple but effective marketing idea, right? And one that would expose the CMU brand to a ton of eyeballs, and maybe even a few young people who are trying to figure out where they'll go to college.

There's just one problem — the letters C, M, and U don't appear in that same order on keyboards.

Unfortunately, CMU's attempt at recruiting new students resulted in the recruitment of a bunch of roasters.

Oh boy.

That's obviously not the kind of attention the folks at CMU were trying to earn. But all publicity is good publicity, right?

And hey, if there's one surefire way to reach today's youth it's through memes.