LingerieBowl.com

Automaker to sponsor event featuring lingerie models playing football during Super Bowl halftime.
December 2, 2003: 7:38 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - DaimlerChrysler's Dodge unit is sponsoring a pay-per-view "Lingerie Bowl" during halftime of the Super Bowl on Feb. 1 featuring models dressed in lingerie playing a seven-on-seven tackle football game.

Dodge signed a one-year agreement with Horizon Productions Inc., the event's producer. The show will cost viewers $19.95. The teams - Team Dream and Team Euphoria - will be coached by former NFL stars Lawrence Taylor and Eric Dickerson.

The game will be played live in a stadium with an audience. The location has yet to be selected, but should be announced soon, said Horizon Productions spokesman Chad St. Cyr.

Dodge has received some criticism for other advertisements of questionable taste. Some dealers complained about a Durango spot that has two men standing at urinals in a bathroom, talking about size. A spokesman said the company is prepared for some criticism for its sponsorship of the Lingerie Bowl as well.

"It's not always possible to avoid criticism," spokesman James Kenyon said. "We feel it's a break-through-the-clutter type of move for us." Kenyon said that Dodge also plans to advertise on the Super Bowl itself, which will be broadcast this year on CBS.

Dodge is primarily a light truck maker, with pickups and sport/utility vehicles making up more than half its sales, although the Caravan minivan, primarily a family vehicle, accounts for another 20 percent of its sales. Its new marketing director, Joe Eberhardt, told trade publication Automotive News in November that Dodge needs to balance its macho image and strengthen its appeal to family buyers.

"We definitely skewed it male, but that is fine," Eberhardt said. "If all of a sudden we lose female Caravan buyers, it would be an issue. I don't think we have."