BUSINESS DIARY

By Hubert B. Herring
THE NEW YORK TIMES
May 18, 2003

The MTV reality shows "Sorority Life" and "Fraternity Life" seemed a natural place for a Yonkers company called Greek101 to showcase its products, which include T-shirts and other apparel emblazoned with the Greek alphabet. But then two very different "realities" collided.

While MTV has said the shows presented events that really happened, some fraternity members took offense, saying they play on stereotypes of Greek life by showing underage drinking and hazing.

The "reality" offered by the shows "does not portray Greek life," Richard Romanelli, a fraternity member at the University of Maine, told a school newspaper this month. "It portrays a half-staged drama series to make money and to fool the people who do not know what Greek life is about. It is preposterous."

Andrew Sinn, a fraternity member at the University of North Dakota, told his school paper, "The show is definitely fake and scripted," adding, "They are highlighting and capitalizing on all the negative aspects of fraternity life."

The contrast could not be more stark with the image that can be gleaned from the company's Web site (greek101.com), where pink-cheeked, clean-cut, outdoorsy young people model jackets and V-neck shirts adorned with various Greek letters.

So Greek101, deciding these shows were not what it had in mind when it provided them clothing two years ago, told MTV in March that it no longer wanted its name in the credits, said Brett Radmin, Greek101's co-founder. An MTV spokeswoman would say only that there had never been a formal agreement.

Return to article index >