UNM’s most famous couple is leaning toward reconciliation — as long as Lobo Louie vows to sever all commercial ties with Route 66 Casino’s pin-up girl.
Many UNM community members were angered by the joint ad campaign, which debuted in early September and includes spots that show Lobo Louie cohabitating with Route 66’s sultry model.
On Monday, the Athletics Advisory Council — with the blessing of Athletics Director Paul Krebs — recommended the University pull the recently revised ads altogether.
Krebs, who welcomed dialogue during Monday’s monthly council meeting, said UNM asked Route 66 Casino representatives to shorten the run-time of the commercials. Still, the council said other measures were necessary.
In his Monday-morning message this week, President David Schmidly said the University pulled the old ads about a week ago. However, they were only temporarily pulled for editing and then re-aired. The original cuts are still on YouTube.
The cleaned-up spots were shown during Monday’s meeting, but little was changed. Apart from removing footage of the woman’s cleavage, the commercials are pretty much identical.
Krebs said the Athletics Department is willing to change the approval process for corporate-sponsored ads.
“Certainly, our intention is not to embarrass the University,” Krebs said. “If the sense of this group is that there needs to be changes based upon the conversation today, we are receptive to that. We are not being argumentative. This commercial has caused a lot of angst and embarrassment.”
At least one member of the council, Deborah Rifenbary, said the ads violated the University’s policy on collegiate licensing and trademark usage.
According to the policy, “The University will not approve the use of University marks in connection with alcoholic beverages, inherently dangerous products (firearms, explosives), illegal drugs, tobacco, gambling, sexually suggestive products or language, or any health-related product.”
Rifenbary said the Athletics Department ignored the policy when it approved the ads.
“If you read the policy in its entirety, those ads are in complete violation, at least from my perspective,” Rifenbary said.
Jackie Hood, a faculty member on the council, chastised the Athletics Department for not flagging the ads’ content.
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“This was just such a no-brainer to me,” she said. “I’m amazed it happened. If that’s the level of decision-making that we’re at, there needs to be some oversight.”
Elisha Allen, Staff Council president, wrote a lengthy comment on DailyLobo.com disapproving of the ads’ misogynistic nature.
“It seems to me that it is unwise to associate our name, brand, logos and mascots with any form of marketing that demeans women or minorities, or objectifies them for monetary gain,” he said.
Kurt Esser, associate director of External Affairs and Athletics Marketing, denied that the ads contained sexual undertones. In fact, Esser said the University was “proud” of the spots in a Sept. 22 interview.
Marie Lobo, faculty and council member, said she was outraged at the portrayal of women in the commercials.
“From my perspective as a woman, I found that demeaning,” she said. “The sexuality that was portrayed in it was inappropriate for UNM. I had heard about the ad and hadn’t seen it, and I have to tell you, I was appalled. I thought that went out a long time ago.”
