PAPER'S AD MAY BRING ABOUT CHANGE IN POLICY

Southeast Missouri State University will make some advertising policy changes in the wake of a student newspaper ad for female dancers that contained the wrong telephone number.

The ad mistakenly ran the telephone number of Cape Girardeau resident Bobbi Woodard. She ended up fielding about 25 calls from people responding to an ad placed by the manager of The Alibi Club, 351 Christine.

Ferrell Ervin, chairman of the mass communication department, said Friday that a new policy will be implemented to guarantee that names and telephone numbers in ads are checked for accuracy. The policy will apply to the student newspaper, The Capaha Arrow, and to the closed-circuit, campus radio station, KMXQ.

Students put out the newspaper and run the radio station.

"They are learning as they are doing," Ervin said. "This will certainly be a learning experience."

Tina Juelfs, business manager of The Capaha Arrow, said the newspaper's staff acted in good faith when they published Jerry Philpott's advertisement for female dancers.

Philpott manages The Alibi Club and placed the ad in the Jan. 18 edition of the Arrow. He said the daytime phone number he provided for the advertising staff's benefit wasn't to be printed in the ad.

The daytime number, which belongs to Coad Chevrolet, was published, and Philpott was fired Wednesday from his job at the car dealership. One of the dealership's owners, Mike Coad, said Philpott was fired for misusing the telephone.

The Arrow's ad also provided an evening number that was intended to be for The Alibi Club, but it was misprinted. Callers reached Woodard instead.

Juelfs said Friday that Philpott was told exactly what was in the ad before it ran.

"We called him before we ran the ad and read everything in the ad," she said. "He said it was OK. He had the option of changing anything he wanted before we ran it."

Philpott said he thought the advertising staff was merely quoting his contact phone number back to him, not telling him it would be part of his advertisement.

All Arrow advertisers may request to see their ads before they run, but Juelfs said Philpott arranged to have his read over the phone.