Lite ranting: maroon & white

Round these parts, we like to refer to our neck of the Texas woods as Aggieland. As in, land of the fightin' Texas A&M Aggies. I'm a proud Aggie myself, class of '95, and am happy to have all the amenities (plentiful burrito restaurants, for example) that a college town provides. Of course, that Aggie name don't come cheap. I may be in violation of copyright right now. Not sure about that. I am sure, however, that businesses who use one of Texas A&M's trademarked names or logos - the block aTm, Reveille, Ol' Sarge, Twelfth Man, and so forth - have to pay money. If I opened a burrito shop and wanted to call it Ol' Sarge's Burritos, I'd have to fork over something to someone. I don't know which office collects that money, but obviously, Texas A&M knows its brand is worth something. A business can't just swipe one of the names or logos as though those images and words were part of the public domain.

By the way, this is not a post about intellectual property. Nor am I criticizing Texas A&M for trademarking everything about itself. Smart marketing, in my opinion.

This is a post about signage ethics (see Lite ranting: "bombs" away). Near the university, right smack dab on the main drag of both Bryan and College Station, a ridiculously long street named Texas Avenue, within view of Kyle Field, sits a strip mall with World Market, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Pier 1. That part is unimportant to my point.

One block south sits a hotel. We are now approaching my point. The hotel used to be a Ramada, but Ramada built a newer hotel out by the highway. The Texas Avenue hotel came under new management. And lo, the new management team decided - bingo! - to name this hotel the Aggieland Inn. Good name, guys. They had to pay for that privilege, of course, but I think it was money well spent. Hotels around here make lots of their money during football weekends. The fans come pouring in on a wave of maroon Suburbans with vanity plates employing creative spellings of "Ag" or "Aggie".

My problem is this, and it's a simple problem expressed in a simple question.

WHY IS THE HOTEL SIGN RED?

The managers paid for the right to use a trademarked name affiliated with a large sports-crazy university whose fans are so enamored with the school colors - maroon and white - that said fans are said to "bleed maroon". Conveniently, most people actually do bleed maroon. Farmers fight, farmers fight, fight for maroon and white.

Why didn't someone at the sign company ask the hotel managers if they meant to order and pay for a MAROON sign? To me, this seems unethical careless on the part of the sign company ... and stupid on the part of the managers. What is this, some kind of secret Sooner establishment? Is the University of Oklahoma trying to get a foothold in our tourist market? Because for the life of me, I cannot figure out how money was spent on a red sign for an Aggie hotel. I am baffled. (Genuinely baffled, not just sarcastically, to-be-funny baffled!)

{Note: I've shared this rant with several friends, pretty much anyone who has been with me while driving on this stretch of Texas Avenue. All of them (Corinna!) look at me like I'm a cuckoo clock. You might be rolling your eyes too. But don'tcha think I have a point? I mean, a RED sign. It makes my (maroon) blood boil just thinking about it!}