ESPN axes college ad campaign
Network’s marketing department pulls plug

BY MEL BRACH

Published: November 15, 2008

Wanted: a wide-eyed, naive male to be an OU student and a fun-loving "hot chick” to be an OSU student.

Those were two of the roles a New York advertising agency sought for an ESPN college basketball ad campaign, which the network canceled on Thursday after learning the actors were to depict stereotypes of students from various colleges.

A leaked memo from the Anomaly agency described a casting call for actors in which it sought someone to portray a Tennessee student as "a slutty girl who would hang out at the cowgirl hall of fame” and for a Notre Dame student "an Asian kid ... who’s always fighting.”

For the ad campaign, the students would work at an ESPN call center, representing their schools as they phoned people to try to get them to watch basketball on ESPN.

"When our marketing department learned of the casting call, we immediately decided that the campaign was not something we will pursue,” ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said. "The language and approach reflected in that document were not approved by us and in no way represent ESPN.”

According to the leaked memo, a male was sought to be an OU student who "is awesome and he thinks everything is awesome. He’s very enthusiastic about all things call center and all things life and he wants to share this contagious enthusiasm with everyone he meets. Wide-eyed, as naive as they come.”

A woman was sought for an OSU student. "She’s a fun-loving girl, Oklahoma born and bred. Decided not to travel out of state so she should be closer to home. She’s a flirt. She’s a hot chick.”

OSU spokesman Gary Shutt said ESPN made the right call in dropping the campaign. "This was a bad idea that should never have seen the light of day.”

Among "roles” for other Big 12 schools:

Texas: "Straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, Texas is a young man’s man. He is the kind of guy that could field dress a deer and then take you to the debutante ball in 20. Polite, farm boy. He’s good at everything. Except call centering.”

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