With all due respect to my Boston University colleagues, the BU College of Communication didn’t exactly cover itself in glory by participating recently in a commercial stunt with McDonald’s, as reported in Tuesday’s Boston Globe:

Call it a Mc-lesson.

This summer, some Boston University students thought they were attending a morning lecture by a renowned cultural anthropologist in an advertising class. But the 14 students unknowingly became stars in a new McDonald’s TV commercial for iced and hot coffees, which will begin airing nationwide on Sept. 1.

In other words, they were BUsed.

A guest lecturer showed up at an 8 a.m. “Fundamentals of Creative Development” class last month and really bored the students so they were really happy when, as the Globe reported, “a crush of chipper uniformed McDonald’s workers, some actors and some real employees, swarmed into the lecture hall” and distributed various McDonald’s caffeinated products – all of it captured on hidden cameras.

At least one media observer describes this form of advertising as a “reality commercial.’’

“It’s a very smart way to get the viewer to believe they are still watching programming,’’ said Geoff Klapisch, a media and advertising professor at BU.

Yes, and it’s a very smart way to cancel out the viewer’s right to know when he’s being advertised to. Not to mention the students’ right to know when they’re being, well, advertising.