Cornography: Selling Women's Professional Basketball in a Girls' Basketball State
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2005
Abstract
Examines the marketing strategy of the short-lived Iowa Cornets, part of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) in the late 1970's. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Iowa girls' high school basketball, the Cornets emphasized everything Iowa, signing home-grown players, hiring coaches with Iowa connections, and employing "cornography" - green and gold team colors, an ear-of-corn mascot named Shucks, and a bus called the Corn Dog. After a year, however, the team adopted some of the WBL's apologetic strategies, overemphasizing players' femininity and heterosexuality.
Publication Information
Lucas, Shelley M.. (2005). "Cornography: Selling Women's Professional Basketball in a Girls' Basketball State". The Annals of Iowa, 64(4), 340-372.