NCAA Says No to Hooters at Final Four

ATLANTA, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Hooters of America announced that the NCAA has pulled a full page ad promoting the popular restaurant chain and featuring well known College Basketball Analyst Dick Vitale from the Final Four Official Tournament Program. Word of the ad removal reached Hooters Marketing Department late on Thursday when the ad agency that had placed the ad on behalf of Hooters received an e-mail from a representative of National Events Publications, which produces and sells program ads for the NCAA. The ad in question is a Full Page 4 Color image promoting Hooters 25th Anniversary Celebration and features Dick Vitale and Sara Hoots, an appropriately named Hooters Girl, who happens to work for Hooters at a restaurant in Selma, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio where the Final Four is being played.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080404/CLF064 )

"My understanding is the NCAA had stated they would only consider the ad if we removed the image of a Hooters Girl, which is absurd. That would be like telling General Motors you can advertise but don't show a picture of a car," stated Mike McNeil the Vice President of Marketing for Hooters of America. "Sara is a beautiful, intelligent and hard working employee, and we would never consider removing her image from the ad. I am concerned by this last minute and seemingly arbitrary treatment. The basketball tournament is an important time for our business, and the fact that certain competitors of ours are allowed to advertise and we are not puts us at a competitive disadvantage," continued McNeil.

The company had heard there were concerns about the ad a few weeks ago but had assumed a communication from Dick Vitale personally to the NCAA approving the ad had put the matter to rest. Dick Vitale has served as a spokesperson for Hooters as part of the chain's March basketball advertising since 2002 and has been featured in dozens of TV, Radio and Print ads through the years. It was Vitale who got Hooters involved with the V Foundation for Cancer Research in 2003 (named for Jim Valvano, the popular College Basketball Coach and Commentator who died of Cancer) and since that time Hooters has raised over $1 million for the worthwhile charity, including the establishment of a Breast Cancer Research Fund in the name of Kelly Jo Dowd, a former employee. "I am proud of my association with Hooters, particularly their support of the V Foundation. They are a great bunch of hard working people, and their hearts are in the right place," stated Dick Vitale

Through the years Hooters has sponsored numerous college sports activities, including the Hooters Hula Bowl College Football All Star Game in Hawaii and the Hooters Match Play Championship, an NCAA sanctioned Golf Tournament for Women's Golf Teams that has been won by Duke University the past 3 seasons. Television Ads for Hooters featuring Dick Vitale were approved by CBS's Standards and Practices in 2007 and actually ran during last year's Tournament Games on the Network. Although Hooters Marketing was advised this fall that it was unlikely the NCAA would allow them to run again in 2008 even though the ads met all written criteria. "For reasons that I will never understand, the NCAA has decided that they will treat Hooters differently. They are ok with beer and chicken wings and they are ok with cheerleaders but when you put it all together in a great restaurant they suddenly have a problem. I hope people will look at the ad for themselves and judge whether the NCAA is being fair," stated McNeil.

To view the Hooters basketball commercial featuring Dick Vitale, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2VSCDnxBI .

Hooters of America, Inc. is the franchisor and operator of over 440 Hooters restaurants in 42 states and 24 foreign countries. The first Hooters opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida and is celebrating the 25th anniversary this year. Hooters is well-known for its brand of food and fun, featuring a casual beach-theme atmosphere, a menu that features seafood, sandwiches and Hooters nearly world famous chicken wings, and service provided by the All- American cheerleaders, the Hooters Girls. For more information about Hooters visit http://www.hooters.com .