Several Univ. of AL football sponsors "have decided not
to use" photos of football coach Mike DuBose "to promote
their products this year" due to the school's settlement of
a sexual harassment complaint brought against DuBose by an
athletic department employee, according to Mark Edwards of
the DECATUR (AL) DAILY. Crimson Tide Sports Marketing Dir
Butch Henry, whose company handles ad sales for the team's
game programs and radio/TV shows, said, "We have not lost
any advertisers because of this, but several of the
advertisers elected not to use Coach DuBose. The reasons
they gave us for dropping [DuBose] at this time was they
wished to err on the side of caution." Henry did not reveal
which sponsors have "dropped" DuBose, but added that they
"didn't want to get caught in a public backlash, if there is
one." Because the school negotiates all endorsement, radio
and TV deals for DuBose and pays him a fixed salary
($231,000) for all of them, he "will get paid regardless of
how many companies choose to use him" in their ads. Edwards
cited Winn-Dixie as one company that will not use DuBose in
its game program ad this season, though Winn-Dixie Dir of
Marketing Gus Burgstrom said that the decision "wasn't made
because of the controversy" (DECATUR (AL) DAILY, 8/15).
