Narcity is a blackhole of sponsored content and UBC students were better off when it left us the hell alone. After discovering the beautiful, niche market that is our university, the site has pumped out over a dozen UBC student-centred articles, capitalizing on quick-to-click procrastinating students and information-starved first-years — all of whom have yet to install an ad blocker.
This new focus, which seems to have started in March, has used UBC students and graduates to produce content that is clickbait-y enough to horrify even the Daily Hive. While Narcity Media (which is really a glorified advertising company) prides itself on its ability to pander to millennials and provide “content for today’s generation,” they’ve slid down the line of decency — something epitomized in a recent article titled “20 of the Hottest UBC Girls on Instagram.”
“UBC. The University of Beautiful Chicks. The name of the school does not lie,” reads its first sentence. There have been a few disgusting full-forms presented for UBC, but we’d say this diminutive moniker would make the top three. Objectifying UBC students and diminishing their achievements has never been and will never be acceptable.
Narcity may have started out with simple intentions by wanting to garner high levels of engagement in a specific audience by using niche terminology (read jokes about WeBWorK and napping in the Aquatic Centre), but they have now gone too far. Students need to be wary of Narcity and sites like it.
We would advise against sacrificing ad blockers and privacy rights to find out the “9 Must-Know Tips Every UBC Freshman Should Know.”
Update September 12, 4:05 p.m.: It looks as though Narcity has since taken down “20 of the Hottest UBC Girls on Instagram” from their website.
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