Gulbis Reps : Image Won't Change

[Balabill]

Here we go again!

Gulbis Rep Says Image Won't Change
November 07, 2007

Turns out the newspaper that reported Natalie Gulbis? days as a swimsuit model are over and that she is having her image ?re-vamped and de-vamped? was incorrect.

At least that?s what Gulbis? people are charging when it comes to the part about the re-vamping and de-vamping.

The controversy began late last week when the a Virginia newspaper published a story saying Gulbis had hired a marketing agency and that she was in the process of being ?rebranded.?

Now Gulbis? people are saying most of what appeared in the article was inaccurate. ?Natalie?s brand has been set all along,? a Gulbis spokesman told GOLF CHANNEL. ?Nothing has changed. That article was a little bizarre.

?Her brand is still the all-American girl who is very smart, very driven and very conscious of fitness who just happens to be a very good golfer.?

The newspaper piece said, among other things, a decision was made to not have any swimsuit photos in the 2008 Gulbis calendar. It also quoted Circle S marketing president Susan Hogg as saying, ?With the original stuff, she (Gulbis) was in a beautiful bathing suit, tights and things and that certainly got the attention of a lot of people. But we?re trying to scoot it more to who she is and where she wants to take (her career and name) ... and being a role model, specifically to young girls and women in general. That?s the brand we?re trying to portray.?

The Gulbis camp acknowledges there are no swimsuit photos in her 2008 calendar but says most of the quotes attributed to Hogg were ?incorrect.?

The USGA banned sales of the Gulbis calendars at this year?s U.S. Women?s Open because they were, reportedly too ?risqu?.?

?That actually helped the sales of the calendars,? said the Gulbis spokesman. But, the spokesman added, in order to get wider distribution to giant outlets, with a wider audience, such as Wal-Mart, Waldenbooks and Amazon, it was decided to not have any bathing suit shots in the 2008 calendar.

For her part, Gulbis has just completed a commercial shoot for a new set of spots for Winn Grips with Butch Harmon and John Daly.

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.a...A-618ED772A432