B.good Ads May Violate Rules

An advertising campaign by a restaurant opening in Harvard Square may have broken some Harvard College postering policies.

B.good—a Boston-based restaurant that is opening a second location on Dunster Street next week—hung small cards as well as larger posters in many of the Houses this week to promote a contest.

The cards were slipped under the doors of many rooms and were attached to bulletin boards and other surfaces around the Yard and River, which violates Harvard policy, according to the student handbook and Harvard administrators.

The student handbook states that “non-recognized groups must obtain prior permission [to poster] from the Office of the Dean of the College.” Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd wrote in an e-mail yesterday that, unless the restaurant was working through Harvard Student Agencies for a door drop, b.good was “violating campus policy.”

“They should not be postering on boards or in houses, and should not be passing out postcards on campus,” Kidd wrote.

Anthony S. Ackil ’99—a co-owner of b.good—said that he wasn’t aware of the regulations regarding the postering and door-dropping of advertisements.

But he was tight-lipped about the details of his methods.

“We did [the advertising] in a special way. It’s a secret,” Ackil said.

The “secret” advertising campaign appeared yesterday to have targeted Leverett towers—particularly F tower—as prime areas for the distribution of advertisements.

The buttons for the elevators were completely surrounded by the small ads. The flyers were also all over the ground floor of F tower, and larger posters covered the bulletin boards.

But some students didn’t notice a major difference between b.good’s advertisements and other ads. Harlan M. Piper ’08 said that next to the flyers for concerts and other events, the b.good ads didn’t seem that jarring.

According to Ackil, the advertisement were simply b.good’s way of allowing students to win free burgers for life.

“The way we take the business is we try to have fun with it,” he said, adding that the contest and the ads accompanying it was part of this philosophy.

The card advertising the contest stated that the owners were looking for a new “friend” for the restaurant in exchange for a lifetime supply of burgers.

Connor C. Wilson ’07 said he entered the contest after receiving an ad in Adams House.

But Wilson said he saw both sides of the door-dropping debate.

“I’m glad I found out about [the contest],” Wilson said. “You don’t want to be swamped by solicitations but you don’t want advertising in the Square to cost too much so students don’t hear about anything.”

The contest, which ends Tuesday, is a part of b.good’s plan publicize its grand opening.

The restaurant is also running a concert series that will last four days. Next week the restaurant will also open for a few hours to give away free food.