University Tells Playboy to Back Off Logo

TEMPE, Ariz. — When Playboy debuted its “Girls of the Pac-10” issue in September, it had no problem finding girls from Arizona State University. Unlike other schools, such as USC, where hardly any women showed up for a chance at being featured in the magazine, Playboy reportedly received more than 200 perky volunteers from ASU vying for a shot in the college issue.

And, according to ASU officials, that’s a real problem, one that keeps prospective students from taking the infamous party school very seriously.

When Playboy first came to campus, ASU Student Body President Yaser Alamoodi argued that the school’s student code of conduct could threaten students with expulsion if they participated.

“I'm not against people posing for this magazine by itself, but what I'm against is girls who pose with ASU running with a theme throughout the picture,” Alamoodi told The Arizona Republic newspaper. “It's a disservice to the students and an insult to all the effort we put in.”

Unfortunately for Alamoodi, action of that caliber from the university would have opened the school up to numerous lawsuits, which is why the college has settled on what he sees as the next best thing: Preventing Playboy from using the ASU logo.

Virgil Renzulli, ASU vice president of public affairs, reportedly sent Playboy a cease-and-desist letter recently in regards to using any image that relates to ASU in Playboy Magazine. The magazine, he said, was receptive to the request and agreed to remove ASU-branded items from future pictorials.

“Playboy understands that they may say that these girls are from ASU, but they can't make it look like it's an endorsement of the university,” Renzulli said.