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Dodge dumps 'Lingerie Bowl'
Automaker won't sponsor TV game between scantily clad women

Posted: December 18, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Saying the controversy over its sponsorship of "Lingerie Bowl 2004" has become a distraction, executives of the Chrysler Group announced yesterday Dodge will no longer sponsor the pay-per-view football game to be aired during halftime of the Super Bowl.

The company had announced just two weeks ago it would sponsor the game, which will feature two seven-woman teams of models playing tackle football in lingerie.

"Dodge brand's sponsorship of the Lingerie Bowl has become a distraction," said George E. Murphy, senior vice president for global marketing at Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep. "The event was diverting media and consumer attention from current products, and from the great new products we are preparing to launch next year."

In announcing its sponsorship, Dodge had said the game would "attract the Dodge brand's core demographic," reports AdAge.com. Negative reaction from consumers, however, appears to have changed the company's mind.

"I think Dodge placed themselves in a position of offending too many 'soccer moms,' who promised to abandon their brand loyalty to the company," said Don Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association, which hailed the move. "It would take a lot of porn-watching males buying Dodge trucks to offset the financial loss they might have experienced from angry customers."

AFA says pressure put on through the websites OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, who encouraged their members to contact Chrysler through e-mails and phone calls, contributed to the turnaround. The group says consumers also contacted local Dodge dealers to express their displeasure.

Organizers of the game say the show will go on.

Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson and Lawrence Taylor will coach the two teams, and the program will air on pay-per-view channels for $19.95, the Associated Press reported.

Mitch Mortaza, creator and executive producer of "Lingerie Bowl 2004," said he was disappointed in Chrysler's decision, "especially since we were led to believe they were behind it 110 percent."

"Not only did Dodge evaluate the event for four months before committing, but the details and marketing plan ... have not changed since its inception," Mortaza told AP.

According to AdAge.com, Neither Chrysler Group CEO Dieter Zetsche nor Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Joe Eberhardt knew of Dodge's deal until after it was signed.

AFA quotes one unidentified Dodge dealer as saying, "Our customers contacted us and we agree with them. Dodge shouldn't be aligning with pornographic events."