WYOMING – A new enrollment campaign for the University of Wyoming, set to launch September 14, is already drawing some criticism for its lack of inclusiveness. According to two newspaper reports, UW’s “The World Needs More Cowboys” promotion featuring the university’s famous bucking horse logo is catching flack from its own faculty and other groups who say playing up the word “cowboy” is offensive.
The Laramie Boomerang broke the story that at least one UW professor wasn’t exactly in tune with the new campaign slogan, dreamed up by a Denver-based ad agency paid some $500,000 by the school board to come up with a new 2018 campaign.
The Casper Star Tribune followed up with its version of the story that is beginning to divide the state on racial and gender grounds as many issues today seem want to do all too easily.
The cowboy image has been criticized as a sexist, gender-specific term that excludes women. It is also under fire for being insulting to Native Americans and for promoting a white, heterosexual stereotype.
