Three years ago, David Freedman had an idea.
Graduating from Arizona State University, he created a business plan that had three ingredients: Hot ASU women, a swimsuit and a camera.
Three years later, what would become a college swimsuit calendar expanded from just one university to the entire Pacific-10 and Big Ten conferences.
“The response has been phenomenal,” said Freedman, a native Pennsylvanian who ventured West for college. “It happened so quickly that first year that we ran with it. It’s grown a lot quicker than anticipated.”
Freedman is the mastermind behind Tempe 12, a swimsuit calendar that features the hottest girls, in Freedman’s mind, from the Pac-10 and Big Ten universities.
Thousands of college women submit photos of themselves to the organization’s Web site, hoping to get chosen as the sexiest girl on their school’s campus.
“Obviously the girl has to be good-looking; it’s a swimsuit calendar,” Freedman said. “But they also need to be overall well-rounded girls. We aren’t looking for girls who are stuck up.”
University freshman McKenzie Sheaffer was selected to represent the Ducks.
But the calendar, which has the largest circulation of any college publication in the country, may seem to fall victim to degrading young women in a culture of “Girls Gone Wild” and Hugh’s Playmates on “Girls Next Door.”
“We take pride in being sexy and classy,” Freedman said. “It’s a girl in a bikini. The same girls who get offended I am pretty sure wear a bikini when they go to the beach or a swimming pool. …People need to get over it.”
Though Freedman claimed that “Girls Gone Wild” producer Joe Francis is “genius” from a business standpoint, he has his own vision. Francis has faced criminal charges for exposing underage, drunken girls in his videos.
“We aren’t looking to put girls in a compromising position,” he said. “It’s not about objectifying women. Everything that I produce I want to be able to show my grandmother and be proud of it.”
Freedman said Tempe 12 donates a portion of the profits to local charities and the American Cancer Society.
Because college sports now need to become synonymous with hot chicks, Freedman wanted to make each school’s pinup girl someone who can foster school spirit.
“It’s a way to think your school is better than the rest,” he said.
Tempe 12 even founded its own modeling agency for those chosen girls who hope to take their bodies to the next step. Several of Freedman’s muses have garnered national attention with spreads in Maxim, Playboy and FHM magazines. The two versions of the calendar also feature school-specific coupons and college football schedules.
This Friday, Tempe 12 will host a calendar kick-off party with Sheaffer at Taboo.
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