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They've been seen on national television. They've been seen in newspapers. They've been seen by players and coaches, fans and reporters, and casual onlookers. They've been seen by 16,000 blue-clad Kansas fans at Allen Fieldhouse for the past few years.  But Andrew Stanley ran into a problem with the blow-up images he and his buddies made of Kansas Jayhawk basketball players and coaches faces that had become a mainstay in the Allen Fieldhouse student section.

"They kept falling apart," Stanley said. "They were hard to make and expensive to print.

Stanley needed more durable blow-up faces before it broke his bank. That's where 23rd Street Brewery came in. The local restaurant offered to make Stanley and his friends in the "KU Heads for Victory" group more sturdy blow-up faces, as long as the brewery could stamp its logo on the back of the heads for all of Allen Fieldhouse to see.

With Stanley and the KU Heads for Victory, 23rd Street Brewery found a marketing campaign far less expensive than constantly running television commercials or newspaper advertisements. This trend of businesses using college students for advertisement is peaking a face of its own onto the University of Kansas campus in tough economic times.

In return for displaying its company logo to thousands of hungry fans, 23rd Street Brewery gave Stanley and his friends $50 to use at the restaurant after every home men's basketball game as well. Stanley said the KU Heads for Victory also received pizzas while they camped at Allen Fieldhouse for front-row seats in the student section.

Stanley's crew isn't the only group of students at KU that have been used as marketing tools lately. When the KU Swim Club hosted its annual home swim meet at Robinson Gymnasium this year, they found themselves in a predicament. The club was in charge of hosting a horde of swimmers from Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas who had built up an appetite after competing in the meet. Jamie Padzensky, a member of the KU Swim Club, came up with an ambitiously simple plan to feed the group of famished swimmers after the meet.


"I went into Chipotle and asked for free burritos," Padzensky said.

The store's assistant manager, Taylor White, saw the perks of the deal and agreed to donate 100 free chicken and steak burritos, nearly $700 worth of food, to the swimmers. In return, fans and athletes at the meet not only saw the large Chipotle banner draped across the high-dive, but got to taste the product first-hand. For White, it was a no-brainer that fit perfectly with the company's advertising schemes.

"This is our target market, college students," White said. "What we've decided to do as a company is to spend our advertising money very wisely. We're not running television commercials."

While 23rd Street Brewery and Chipotle have been relatively new on the scene of using college students as cheap advertisement, Francis Sporting Goods has been using KU students as walking billboards for more than 60 years. According to Brent Hill, Store Manager, Francis Sporting Goods sells around 1,200 t-shirts per year with its company logo across the front predominantly to KU students for $5 per shirt. Hill expects sales of the t-shirts to surge when the new crop of KU students arrive for the fall semester.

"Here in about another 3 weeks, we'll have people coming in that don't even know who we are or what we are, but they've seen them up on campus and they've got to come in and get one," Hill said.

Thanks to those t-shirt sales, the store's logo has been seen throughout the world. According to Hill, John Francis, the store's founder, went on a family vacation to Hawaii and found his store's logo on the t-shirts of each player in a sand volleyball game. Francis Sporting Goods' marketing plan has worked well.

"People are paying $5 to advertise for you," Hill said.

While not every company has as perfect a set up as Francis Sporting Goods, many are finding the benefit to using students to spread the word at a minimal price. For students, the benefits are often worth the work, or lack thereof.

Andrew Stanley and the KU Heads for Victory were perfectly content getting free food and blow-up faces to cheer on their team.

The sun shines, the birds chirp, and fairways stretch as far as the freshly-mowed rows of grass take them on a summer day at Alvamar Orchards Golf Course. A pair of golfers high-five after a two-putt for par, and another round is complete. Inside the clubhouse sits the course's owner, Edward White, on a business-as-usual July afternoon. White greets another golfer, and reminds him to grab a scorecard.

White has seen gorgeous summer days like these at his golf course for the past two decades. Most people go out to the golf course to escape the realities of monotonous everyday life for a few hours. White goes to this heaven-on-earth because it's his job. His passion.

"It's kind of like a dream to do something that you love," White says. "It's not even work."

As anxiety consumes the United States of America over increasing unemployment, disappearing 401k's, crime rates, potential wars in foreign nations, and volatile gas prices, Edward White chooses to live a life most anyone would envy. Edward White's story is one you don't hear of very often these days. The story of a simple life. A happy life. A life where friendships and customer satisfaction exceeds profits and revenue.

A three-sport star in high school, White pursued a major league baseball career. He spent two and a half years playing in the Boston Red Sox farm system. He would have made to Boston it too, said Emil Tonkovich, a long-time friend of White's, if Ted Williams hadn't played baseball into his 40s for the Red Sox. White returned to Kansas for college and played and coached basketball at Pittsburg State.

After coaching at Pittsburg State, White spent 29 years in California, where he found what many call success. He found money. He found a solid reputation. He did well in the aerospace industry. He started a lucrative business providing services for attorneys. But White didn't find the fulfillment in an uptight California he'd ultimately find upon his return to Kansas. It wasn't always flowers, butterflies, and under-par rounds on a golf course there.

"Generally speaking, people are angry out there. They have long hours. They have to commute. It's dog eat dog. It takes money to live there. Not everybody's in a good mood. It's not like Lawrence," White said.

While working for attorneys in California, he dealt with people suing each other and divorces. He had guns and knives put to him. He was robbed. And don't forget the traffic.

"Boy, you get on that freeway, and you've got to fend for yourself," White said.

The success White had in California wasn't what he was looking for, and on Valentine's Day of 1992, White and his wife, who are now divorced, returned to Kansas. White had to find a new job. His wife had invaluable advice for him on the job search.

"The wife suggested 'If we're going to move back, do something that you love,'" White said.

White found something he loved when he bought Alvamar Orchards Golf Course in 1992 from Bob Billings. He found a simple life with simple fun, and since 1992, White has run his business with those principles in mind. It's the type of business grandparents mention to grandchildren while reminiscing of the good old days. A type of business where "regulars" still exist. A type of business where a handshake goes further than a five-dollar bill. A fun business.

"This is a fun place. There's no reason to be anything but fun," White said.

White goes out of his way to make Alvamar Orchards a fun place to be, not so much for business, but for pleasure. When tee times are backed up, White will give college students waiting to tee off tests with topics ranging from the Great Lakes to Supreme Court Justices. The winner gets a soda or a few golf balls.

"That's the kind of thing I do," White said. "It doesn't cost me anything."

Walk into the clubhouse in the mornings and you'll find White enjoying coffee with clients and shooting the breeze. They talk about nothing important, he says, just the previous day's events. Running the golf course he says, has been about building friendships more than anything.

"I've never had so many close friends and friends than I've made through the golf course," White said.

Emil Tonkovich is one of the close friends White made at Alvamar Orchards. Tonkovich began golfing at White's course ten years ago, and still plays once a week at the course. His friendship with White is a large part of the reason Tonkovich keeps playing at the Orchards.

"It's different than most courses where the owner or even the managers don't know the people that well. It's a friendship thing," Tonkovich said.

Sure, business is still important, and for White, business is still decent. When the City of Lawrence built the 18-hole Eagle Bend Golf Course near Clinton Lake, White lost half of his business. But the regulars stayed. They preferred what White calls the "loosey-goosey" feel his course offers that others don't, despite the fact it only has nine holes. If he had more room, White thinks it would be different.

"The only negative about this place is that it's 9 holes. If it was an 18 hole course, I'd be kicking everybody's butt," White said. "That's a fact, Jack."

18 holes or not, White has found his simple home at Alvamar Orchards. Owning a golf course lets him be near his passion of sports. A lifestyle most would envy these days. A perfect set up for a people-person like White.

"It's kind of an ideal situation," Tonkovich said. "It's a fun job for him. He enjoys it."

For now, White plans to hold on to the golf course as long as he can. He plans to continue his optimistic outlook on life. To continue morning coffee and "bull" sessions with customers. He'll keep giving his tests to college students when the first tee box gets backed up. He has no intentions of leaving Lawrence.

"It's a hoot," White said. "I'll die here with my golf shoes on."

Business is good on a sunny summer afternoon for Doug Wahl as he hands a customer a large shotgun. The customer giddily examines the specs on his new weapon from top to bottom. For this gun-lover, it's another weapon to add to his growing collection. He's loading up on them while he still can, he says.

For Wahl, the owner of Lawrence Pawn and Jewelry, it's another gun transfer. Transfers like this have increased nearly 50 percent in recent months at Lawrence Pawn and Jewelry. Wahl and Ron Hamlet, who also sells guns at Wahl's shop, credit their recent flood of sales to the outcome of America's most recent presidential election.

"The requests spiked when it became apparent Obama was going to win," said Hamlet

The rise of Obama's Democratic party to the top of Washington, D.C. has gun fanatics around the nation stocking up on weapons in fear that Obama may institute tighter gun control in the nation. Gun shops in America like Wahl's are reaping the benefits of this fear.

Gun sales galore

The recent increase in gun sales seen by Wahl and Hamlet at Lawrence Pawn and Jewelry hasn't been limited to their store. John Geery, who manages Jayhawk Pawn and Jewelry, said he has also seen an increase in sales lately. Geery said his store recently increased its stock of handguns considerably. Democrats, he says, have helped many of them sell.

Lawrence Pawn and Jewelry is one of few gun shops around Lawrence, and deals not only with in-store customers, but with on-line shoppers. On-line merchants send guns through Lawrence Pawn and Jewelry as a transfer point for gun buyers. Business for Wahl has been coming from all angles.

Numbers indicate this trend is true throughout the country. FBI statistics report an increase of 1.5 million requests for background checks by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System from 2007 to 2008, the year Obama was elected. Those background checks are required in the United States in order for a person to purchase a firearm. November, the month Obama was elected, brought a 42 percent increase in background checks from the previous November. December of 2008 saw 24 percent more background checks than December of 2007. Kansas has already seen more than 62,000 background checks this year.

Hamlet said the increase in demand for guns and ammunition has created a shortage in the area. 9mm ammunition is almost impossible to find anywhere according to Hamlet. The shortage has also bumped up sales prices on guns and ammunition around the nation.

Obama named "Gun Salesman of the Year"

Wahl, Hamlet, and Geery aren't the only ones who attribute this increase in business to President Obama. TheOutdoorWire.com named Obama its "Gun Salesman of the Year," citing that if it weren't for Obama frightening customers into loading up on firearms, the gun industry may very well be experiencing the same economic problems as the rest of the nation.

Geery has seen this frenzy for firearms up close. "There have been people that walked right in here and said 'I'm buying a gun before Obama takes them away,'" Geery said. "It's not just Obama, they think it's the Democratic control."

Much of the speculation that Obama may enforce strict gun control laws comes simply because of the fact he is a Democrat. Former Democratic President Bill Clinton enforced the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, which greatly limited the supply of guns in America. The ban required American gun manufactures to stop producing semi-automatic weapons as well as rounds that held more than ten bullets. As a result, a similar stockpiling of guns occurred.

Hamlet sees the logic behind the panic for gun owners. "It went from a republican president who was basically neutral on second amendment rights, and now we've got a democratic president, and historically, they're less than neutral on second amendment rights," Hamlet said.

An unclear future

President Obama still hasn't made a clear enough statement regarding gun control for gun buyers to feel comfortable enough waiting to but guns. For some gun owners, though, Obama's background of voting in favor of certain gun control laws in Illinois is enough to stock up on weapons. For other gun owners, memories of Clinton's Assault Weapons ban are enough to add a few more guns to the collection.

Regardless of what Obama ultimately decides to do regarding gun control in his presidency, Doug Wahl will have reaped the benefits of pure speculation.

Joanie Haley's phone rings yet another time on a busy Tuesday afternoon. This is nothing new for Haley. Her phone rings at least 20 to 30 times per day.

Haley is the office manager for Haley Pest Control. Like most exterminators around Lawrence this time of year, the proverbial "getting" is good for her business.

"I may have to put you on hold," Haley says into the speaker.

She's that busy.

Haley Pest Control and other exterminators in Lawrence are finding themselves immune to the economic recession, especially in spring, summer, and early fall months. Rising unemployment rates and disappearing 401k's in America haven't discouraged bugs, which keeps exterminators very happy.

Seasons' Greetings

"I think the ants have come to Lawrence," Haley said.

It seems as though they brought friends along, too. Late spring, all of summer, and early fall provide ideal living conditions for bugs with warmth and humidity. This year is no different. Bugs have come to Lawrence in full force, in large part due to a relatively mild winter allowing many of them to stay alive. This winter, Kansas saw a 66 degree December day, a 70 degree January day, and a 69 degree February day according to the National Weather service. Those three winter days were each record highs.

This recipe for bug-breeding success has spelled trouble for Lawrence residents, unless, of course, "Pest Control" is the name of your game.

Haley said her company has been more than twice as busy this summer than it is in the winter months. The average December or January day finds Haley Pest Control with five to seven jobs to do, compared to more than twenty on average this summer.

Garrett Counts has seen a similar increase in business. Counts, District Manager of Schendel Pest Control, sends out each of his eight technicians to do around 10 jobs per summer day. New business for Schendel Pest Control is up more than 30 percent this time of year, according to Counts.

"This is when we have the most growth," Counts said.

"Bug off, economy!"

As the unemployment rate in Kansas rose to 6.9 percent in May the outlook for many Kansas workers is grim. However it seems the exact opposite trend is occurring with exterminators. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the pest control industry will see a 15 percent increase in employment by 2016.

David Aiken's testimony echoes the sentiment. Aiken, Owner of Aiken Pest Control, has actually seen an increase in business despite economic trends pointing downward in almost every industry. Aiken said he lost a few customers last fall who cited the economy and lack of work as the cause. However, according to Aiken, that hasn't been the norm.

"It's been a little bit surprising to me," Aiken said, "I've picked up more yards in the last three months than I lost by far. I lost some, but I've gained more than I lost."

This increase in business has found Aiken in charge of pest control for nearly 100 yards this year.

Haley credits this immunity to recession to the fact that pest control is sometimes down-right necessary.

"If people have bugs, they'll find a way to put it in their budget," Haley said. "When you have ants and things, it really isn't going to go away. It just gets worse."

When bugs like termites, ants, and fleas decide to make someone's house their home, often times there's no alternative than to call an exterminator.

"Buying things over the counter may be a temporary solution, but usually you have to have a pest control company come in," Haley said.

The College-Town Effect

The hot, humid weather of the Midwest isn't the only reason exterminators in Lawrence are thriving. There's another source of business helping pest controllers all around the nation stay more than afloat despite the economy.

"When students start moving back in, you get a lot more calls for roaches and insects," Aiken said.

Thousands of college students living in Lawrence apartments and older homes are yet another solid source of income for exterminators.

For Joanie Haley, this means silence from her telephone is nowhere in sight.