Cancellation Notice

Dear ESPN the Magazine:


I write to you today to cancel my subscription to your magazine. I have been a faithful subscriber for a number of years, but it seems that the advertisements within the pages of your product have deteriorated to the point that I must, in good conscience, opt out of renewing for another year.

ESPN the Magazine has always been such a blessing to a sports fan such as myself, as the writing is top-notch and the inside-looks at the lives of the various athletes has helped to give them another dimension to your readers. I read each installment nearly cover-to-cover, even dwelling on the articles concerning athletes or sports for which I have very little interest.

The incredible prices that you offer to subscribers have always been a huge selling point for me also. Paying approximately 50 cents per issue is an astonishing bargain, and I was always quick to renew, so as not to miss a single issue.

Unfortunately, I can no longer ignore the reality that the advertisements in your product are getting sleazier and sleazier. In every issue, I have found at least one ad (usually from Skyy Blue vodka) that depicts a scantily-clad woman or women in a suggestive pose. Just quickly skimming through the most recent issue (June 18, 2007), I find a Skyy Blue ad with a busty blonde in a wet, white, see-through dress on river raft (p. 11), and a Tag body spray ad with three young women in their underwear jumping on a bed, engaged in a pillow fight (p. 53).

I have tried to ignore these ads for the past few years, reassuring myself that the excellent content of the magazine made up for the poor lack in judgment of the editors by including these ads. Yet I could not ignore this debacle any longer after viewing p. 105 in the June 4, 2007 issue. In case you do not have this issue in front of you, let me describe it for you: a curvy-woman is suited up in one of the skimpiest, orange bikinis known to man, while holding a drill. Here are some interesting things to consider: 1) The woman’s head is completely cut off. Apparently, she is nothing but a “hot body” to the viewer, not even a complete person. 2) This advertisement is by Skechers, which, to the best of my knowledge, sells shoes!!! The only shoes in the whole ad are not even on the poor girl’s feet, but in mid-air, strategically placed so as not to cover up any of her sexual goodies, God forbid.

As a father of two (ages 3 and 1), it is my duty to protect my children from this sexual hedonism that pervades our current culture. In ads such as this, women are seen as less than people, put here on our planet purely for the enjoyment of men. Men are discouraged from showing any sense of sexual self-restraint, but to follow these primitive urges in whatever form they find convenient. Mankind has been instilled with more dignity than this; we deserve better.

I very much look forward to the day that these despicable advertisements are purged from your magazine, so that I may once again take advantage of the excellent writing and phenomenal discounts that you can offer. Until then, I would ask you to take my name off your subscriber list.



Sincerely,


Heath Morber
1603 W. Church St.
Champaign, IL 61821