• The New York Times, Monday, September 12, 2011 9:45 AM

In this Petri dish, observe University of North Carolina students wearing corporate branding from American Eagle Outfitters. Look closely, as you will be tested on whether these students just happen to be wearing the brand or whether they are brand ambassadors. Watch as the American Eagle has teams helping to unload family cars, lug belongings to dorms, and give out American Eagle swag.

About 10,000 American college students will be working on campuses for cash for brands like Red Bull and Hewlett-Packard PCs. College kids spent about $36 billion during the 2010-11 school year alone, according to projections from Re:Fuel, a media and promotions firm specializing in the youth market.

The students that corporations like for these gigs are BMOC-types: jocks and other alpha boys and girls into music, fraternities or sororities and Facebook who know school traditions and campus hot spots. It's the one chance psych majors will have in life to make more money than the computer science students.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »