School of Management junior Rich Mondello walked into his marketing midterm just before Spring Break to confused looks and chuckles from his peers, knowing exactly what prompted the reaction: the words “SMG Tool” emblazoned across his white T-shirt.
Amused classmates nudged one another to find out where to get their own shirts, and when Mondello handed in his exam, the proctor asked where he could get one, too. After that, Mondello began producing “SMG Tool” T-shirts that he said embrace SMG’s arrogant-student stereotype.
“The best part of the T-shirts is that everyone in SMG I thought would hate it ended up loving it,” Mondello said. “I’m one of the most self-deprecating people. It’s important not to take yourself too seriously.”
Mondello said his idea was inspired by SMG’s newest website change. What used to be called the website’s “Blackboard” feature, from which students find daily assignments and other information, is now called “SMGtools.” The word “tool” has long been slang for someone who “tries too hard,” according to urbandictionary.com.
“The minute I heard that name, I don’t know why no one else tied it to the SMG stereotype,” Mondello said.
The T-shirts now have a Facebook group following, and a site with Mondello’s fake fashion shoots promotes them, but the best advertising is simply students wearing the shirts around campus, he said
Mondello said he was surprised to learn SMG marketing professor Nathalie Laidler-Kylander did not find his project “stupid or immature.”
“I think anything that is done in good-hearted jest that relieves tensions without hurting anyone is a good thing,” Laidler-Kylander said in an email.
Kristen Zyla, an SMG junior, said she is thinking of wearing the shirt with her class group for one of their presentations. Because she was in the College of General Studies prior to SMG, she is accustomed to hearing jokes about her school, she said.
“I think it’s hilarious,” she said. “We are making fun of ourselves. It’s not like we are making fun of anyone else. SMG has a stigma about it, and it’s funny to embrace it.”
Zyla said it helps to have comic relief to ease the intense competition and class work SMG students endure.
Mondello’s roommate Jon Karas, a College of Communication junior, said he modeled the shirt for the website because he is the most “tool-ish person” Mondello knows.
The fake press pictures depict Karas talking on a Razr cellphone and wearing aviator sunglasses. There is also a photo of the shirt next to cigarettes, condoms, a tie and a textbook.
“My mantra is, I continually think boobs and money,” he said, of getting into character for the photos.
Although he has received suggestions to start marking the shirts on a larger scale, he did not start the project for the money but for a good laugh, Mondello said.
“You get to know [Mondello] and he’s a funny kid,” SMG junior Brian Sakhai said. “He’s creative.”
Sakhai said he does not think he personally embodies the SMG stereotype, but can see where Mondello got the inspiration for his idea.
“I don’t see why people would find it offensive,” Sakhai said. “Teachers might not like it, but I don’t know why.”
