Greek 101 Pulls out of MTV Fraternity/Sorority Life Shows
 

greek101.com
646 Saw Mill River Road Yonkers, NY 10710
Phone (888) 473-3550
Fax (914) 476-4333
info@greek101.com


"Greek101.com Severs Relationship with MTV's Sorority/Fraternity Shows"

Greek101.com, a leading provider of Fraternity and Sorority apparel and
accessories, recently severed our relationship with the reality-TV shows
MTV's Sorority Life and MTV's Fraternity Life. We no longer will
provide our apparel to the shows' participants, and at our request, MTV
removed our name from the shows' credits. Additionally, we are seeking
to have an anti-hazing organization's logo appear in its place.

Greek101.com has always believed in the importance of celebrating the
many good works performed by Fraternities and Sororities throughout the
country. For us, Greek life is synonymous with forging lifelong
relationships, giving back to the community through service and
philanthropy, fostering leadership abilities, and having good, clean
fun.

It was in this spirit that we forged a relationship with MTV roughly 18
months ago to supply Greek101.com apparel for MTV's Sorority Life and
MTV's Fraternity Life. Before we entered that relationship, we conducted
our due diligence on the scope and nature of the shows and were assured
that, although they were unscripted and spontaneous reality shows, they
would most certainly seek to highlight the wholesome, philanthropic
activities for which the Greek system is well known.

When the initial episodes of the premiere season of MTV's Sorority Life
portrayed Sororities in a less-than-favorable light, we publicly
expressed our disappointment, but were hopeful that we could influence
producers and participants to abide by the original spirit of the show.
Our feedback had some positive impact on the rest of the first season,
which led us to believe that the second season would portray the Greek
system more favorably. Unfortunately, when the second season began, it
became apparent that the show - along with the new MTV Fraternity Life
program - was going to continue in a direction that was contrary to the
principles and standards of Greek101.com.

As a result, we feel that we can no longer, in good conscience, continue
to provide our products to the two shows. Unfortunately, future
episodes bearing the name Greek101.com have already been filmed and
produced. Until October, you will continue to see what appear to be "new
episodes," which where filmed prior to April 1, 2003, as well as reruns.
We urged MTV to remove the Greek101.com name from those episodes, but
were told that the shows cannot be edited, nor can our name be removed,
digitally altered, or blocked out.

Greek101.com is completely committed to the ideals of Greek life, and we
will continue to pursue a number of charitable activities, including
donating thousands of dollars to the Fraternity/Sorority Community each
year.

In recent years, the Fraternity/Sorority system has made great strides
in abolishing once pervasive negative stereotypes. As such, Greek101.com
and all people concerned with the image of the Greek system must take a
stand and insure that Fraternities and Sororities remain the strong,
wholesome institutions that have positively impacted so many young
people over the years.

We encourage you to discuss the image of Greek life in the media with
your chapters and students. By acknowledging accurate portrayals and
expressing our disapproval of misrepresentations, we can play a major
role in shaping the way Fraternities and Sororities are depicted.

Thank you for your understanding of this matter. Please feel free to
contact us with any questions, comments or concerns.

Isn't there a cliche about sleeping with the devil, or picking up a snake, or something like that?

And as far as not being able to digitally alter their name...that's bullshit.

Wow, wtg!

This is probably a good move on their part.

And yeah, the whole thing about not being able to digitally alter the name out is BS . . . MTV blurs out product names in music videos all the time. Why can't they do the same with SL?

They probably don't want to go back and "alter."

I, for one, applaud Greek 101 for taking this stance, albeit belatedly. Thank you for not perpetuating such a negative image any longer.

honeychile

I bet the only reason they pulled out because the national GLO's threaten to pull away their business they gave them. I am sure sales have gone down by national glo greeks because of the show.

For cliche's how about, "When you lie down w/ dogs, you get up w/ fleas."

So much for the optimism that the media can be trusted to portray Greek life in a positive way.

I'm hoping Texas-Gal puts this press release up on doublesweetie.com. I wish there was a way it could get onto MTV's website as well.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)

Post it on the taildaters message board - it's the unofficial SL/FL message board.

Unfortunately, I think that this might just be too late to already turn back from the negative images that were put into the minds of millions of people. I think that Greek101 will probably carry with it some stigma because of this relationship.

I know that many people (advisors, headquarters, regional associations) had expressed concerns after the first episode and were assured that "this time was going to be different" by Greek101...it was deifinately different, but unfortunately in a bad way.

I hope that the company intends to even further work to develop a more positive image of fraternity and sorority life in north america as well as a develop their own base of standards as a values-based corporate organization.

Aint Economices wunerful!:) ?

Have never seen this show and what I hear from fellow Greeks, dont intend to!

We always get a shot in the Butt from any of them!

OK, good for 101!

To have good toast, it must have butter on it!

With no business, no profits.:cool:

OOPS, No MTV!

Re: Greek 101 Pulls out of MTV Fraternity/Sorority Life Shows
 

um, no...you just wanted to get your name out to millions of possible customers:rolleyes:

Nope, they only want to alter any shread of a positive greek image. :rolleyes:

While it seems like 'too little too late' for some people, I applaud Greek101.com's choice to pull out of the MTV shows.

In the first season, while there was a lot of cattiness (is that a word?!) going on, I feel it was far better than the way the new SL/FL members are portraying Greek Life with hazing, breaking of the laws, & things like that.

I agree w/ Opie25 in the post saying that even though Greek101 might carry a certain stigma b/c of their relationship w/ MTV, I do hope they can do more to promote a more postive Greek image. I think it takes a lot for a company to admit they made a bad decision in supporting these shows.

I agree. I wish Greek101 had come to that conclusion 18 months ago, but better late than never.

I feel kind of bad for Greek101 because I'm sure they thought doing SL,FL would portray them in the best light, but if you have people hazing in the shirts you provided that clearly have Greek101 across the front...the only option you have is to pull out because it makes it look like you support hazing.

well, I'm glad Greek101 has pulled out. Maybe MTV might think twice about the way they potray greek life.

If MTV had to portray it in a positive light it wouldn't be good TV. That's the trouble with these shows. Without drama there's no entertainment. Therefore through the arts of editing they have to create drama even if it's not really there.. they fan flames, the whole works.

Unfortunately as long as there are groups willing to accept their offer the series (which is pretty popular) will continue.

I'm sure MTV can digitally alter it. They do it for videos and other productions all the time.

I don't think they would want to blur anything out though. If Greek 101 just pulled out in April, then they are still a sponcer of the shows and are probably still paying MTV a pretty penny to have their name out there. Of course it's BS that they can't do it, but they are trying to soak greek 101 for all the money they can.

Over in my own little world....
 

I'd like to congratulate GC for this accomplishment. We've bitched so much about their shirts on the shows that they decided we must be much more loyal customers than Mtv. ;) Lest we forget who's ad is at the top of this screen.
Power to the Greek Chatters! :D

Good for greek101

MTV will easily get another sponsor. Hopefully, they won't get another fraternity or sorority to sign on so easily.

Too late!!! WishinHopin has reported the FL2 boys will be filmed at her school :eek:


Back to the topic at hand, I agree with SoCalGirl!!!

That's weird. I think that you quoted me, but it's attributed to SoCalGirl. :confused:

FL2 will be at Wishin's school. I hope NBO stays away!

I think that people are getting sick of this reality tv stuff. The trend seems to be on the downturn. I don't know anyone who is watching the Osbournes anymore. I think that the days are numbered for Fraternity and Sorority Life. Greek101 is just one part of this trend.

I don't think "The Osbournes" is being aired anymore . . . except maybe the reruns.

My bad! Sorry Cream! I don't know what I did there :confused:

I was also going to agree w/ SoCalGirl about the GC thing :p

Oh, maybe that's why no one is watching! lol! :p

No problem, texas*princess. :D

Greek101.com Severs Relationship with MTV's Sorority/Fraternity Shows
 

This just landed in my inbox:

"Greek101.com, a leading provider of Fraternity and Sorority apparel and accessories, recently severed our relationship with the reality-TV shows MTV’s Sorority Life and MTV’s Fraternity Life. We no longer will provide our apparel to the shows’ participants, and at our request, MTV removed our name from the shows’ credits. Additionally, we are seeking to have an anti-hazing organization’s logo appear in its place.

"When Greek101.com agreed to provide products to the shows, we were under the impression that, although they were unscripted and spontaneous reality shows, they would seek to highlight the philanthropic activities and good clean fun for which the Greek system is well known. Unfortunately, this is not the case. If you’ve seen these shows you know that since they seek to highlight the wild and provocative side of Fraternities and Sororities, they perpetuate the negative stereotypes of Greek life.

"As a result, we feel that we can no longer continue to provide our products to the two shows. Unfortunately, future episodes bearing the name Greek101.com have already been filmed and produced. Until October, you will continue to see what appear to be "new episodes," which where filmed prior to April 1, 2003, as well as reruns. We urged MTV to remove the Greek101.com name from those episodes, but were told that since the shows were filmed with our permission at the time and have already been edited, it would be extremely expensive for MTV to remove, digitally alter, or block out our name. Since our logo appears in many scenes, the cost of removing them would be well beyond the financial means of Greek101.com.

"Greek101.com is completely committed to the ideals of Greek life, and we will continue to pursue a number of charitable activities, including donating thousands of dollars to the Fraternity/Sorority Community each year.

"We hope that you will continue to enjoy Greek101.com products, and look forward to hearing from you with any comments, questions or suggestions that you may have."

Discuss.

It's possible, but can be expensive. I doubt that they'll bother.

http://www.greek101.com/mtv/index.html

Interesting reading. I only wish the font was larger so more people could really read it without getting eyestrain, esp. their statement.

Lynn, that font is teeny! You can copy it to a word document and then put it into a bigger font.

On my links page, I have a huge listing of all the articles about SL & FL - including this greek101.com stuff.

What's amazing to me is that this announcement happened almost 6 weeks ago - and one news outlet just reported it yesterday as though it just happened.

33, yea, I know! But I wasn't thhhhaatt interested, lol!

I don't know anything about Greek 101 and how they run their business.

It's fair to point out, though, that before year one went on the air there was a pretty intense debate right here on GC about whether MTV would be "fair." Many argued that this show would be good for the Greek System -- that Greek Life was so good that MTV couldn't harm it with selective and creative shooting and editing.

So much for that.

But Greek 101 might haven gotten involved because of the same kind of naive outlook toward the show and its producers.

On the other hand, I also don't know when Greek 101 got involved in the show. If it was in the second season, they obviously didn't do their homework. If it was sometime during the first season, they took an awful long time to make a decision that the show is damaging.

A cynic might surmise that Greek 101 saw the content, but hung in with MTV until the hue and cry started hitting them in their bottom line.

DeltAlum,

They got involved the first season. To be fair, most of the complaining about the first season was on the behavior of the pledges, not the initiated sisters, and SigmaAEPi had quite a few requests to expand to other campuses. Also, the school had no prob with them. This time around it's another story.

Oh, and did you catch who the replacement sponsor is - L'Oreal. I would guess they have a mite bit more $$$$ than greek101. so I don't really think MTV is too upset.

Did anyone else notice that the Greek101 ad popped up on GC and, quickly after, they pulled their sponsorship?
Think there was a connection?

And the fact that is you mention Greekchat as the discount code, you save 5%?

I think it was a good move (a bit late, but better late than not at all).

Kudos to Greek 101 for doing the right thing. It is very vital to portray GLOs in positive light, since we have been getting a bad rap for years. In their website, they have page (in their "lounge") that has links to articles portraying GLOs in a very positive way (i.e community service and charity). As for MTV, they should do their part to allow us to maintain a good image. Enough already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/madgo.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/screams.gif :mad:

Really? I'll have to pass that on to my chapter.