Marketing experts have recently found the need to leave traditional means of advertising in order to find innovative ways to reach a part of society that is young, highly tech-savvy and hard to please: college students. Marketers have found it difficult to gain the attention of students through conventional television commercials or magazines. With a decrease in sales and a gloomy market, companies are seeking better prospects by using multiple forms of social media.

They have, however, recently found a more innovative approach: hiring college students as brand ambassadors. In other words, individuals are hired to represent and promote products on campuses. So far, brand ambassadors have been effective in linking marketers to students and students to trendy brands. Their success continues to grow, but their influence over students and college culture may be something to worry about.

For many colleges, fall semester marks the start of over 10,000 students working as brand ambassadors on hundreds of campuses, with many in the Boston region. Students are paid to endorse major brand names and retailers already popularized by young adults. Brand ambassadors can be seen marketing American Eagle, Apple, Red Bull and other brands during move-in, orientation and other major campus activities. Students often create their own marketing plans to promote their company's products to extracurricular groups and sports teams. Normally this includes walking around campus wearing logos or passing out products after class. Companies claim this peer-to-peer marketing is a friendly approach.

Marketers are not the only ones attracted to the idea of brand ambassadors; it has also created profitable opportunities for students. Brand ambassadors are paid either in cash or products to represent brands, some earning a little over $1,000 per semester. The marketing experience boosts résumés and the potential to be employed by the company after graduation.

Some students may already find themselves equipped with the skills to become brand ambassadors. Corporations select students that can tap into the social networks at school, such as students in athletic clubs, fraternities or sororities. The situation can become one where companies are shaping the lifestyle and culture of the universities rather than the students themselves.

While these compensations have high appeal, brand ambassadors might be creating a climate clouded with brands rather than an enriched campus culture. Students are potentially hindered from shaping a college community that is original and reflects their own tastes and values. Brands may slowly become accepted as positive ways of identification, especially when the student ambassador is a friend. A brand ambassador could be the popular student on campus or a classmate. Students are more willing to listen to a friend than a stranger pushing a product. A product suggestion becomes less of a marketing tactic when a close friend recommends it.

These brands are marketed, if not directed, particularly toward incoming students. Companies and brand names sponsor freshman dinners and provide services for students moving in. In late August, brand ambassadors of American Eagle helped students move in during freshman welcome week at the University of North Carolina and passed out American Eagle water bottles and flip-flops. Within the same week, Target sponsored a welcome party for UNC's incoming Class of 2015. While move-in day presents an open opportunity where ambassadors can easily talk up a product with students and families, it also diminishes the uniqueness of a freshman's first college experience.

Freshmen are away from home, parents and close friends as they are trying to fit in and find their own niche in the college community. They are often shopping and making decisions on their own for the very first time. Systematically exposing these students to brands would allow companies to essentially make those decisions for the students. Instead of exploring new interests, students are shopping for interests. Becoming hooked on a product now only means one thing: Companies have secured your brand loyalty to them in the future.

It is not surprising that brands are easing their way into college communities. Some colleges are completely unaware of or indifferent to the presence of student marketers or companies on campus. There is little supervision in how these brands and companies access college students for their investments.

A brand's strong presence on campus can define the college and the lifestyle of its students, perhaps in a negative light. Brands would become labels that are attached to the name and reputation of college. Marketing energy drinks and highly caffeinated products on campus isn't promoting healthy and appropriate lifestyles for students, but energy drinks and most similar products target the college demographic because of the lifestyle students are assumed to typically lead: one that is restless and without self-control.

I am not labeling companies or marketers as evil forces out to fool students. In fact, college students are in need of the free clothing and gadgets that some companies offer, as well as the job opportunities that brand ambassadors can provide. Yet people should be reminded that college is a place for education. Students enter college not to be bombarded by worldly materials but to have the privilege of experiencing the world at their own pace.