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Neala Schleuning, director of the Women's Center at Mankato State University in Minnesota, was annoyed last fall when she saw an advertisement for the TV series Dynasty displaying three female characters under the headline BITCH, BITCH, BITCH. She wrote to Fallon McElligott, the award-winning Minneapolis ad agency responsible for the promotion, objecting to what she called its "male gonad" style. That phrase riled an employee at the agency, which regularly does pro bono work for women's groups and organizations promoting children's rights. His response was, well, intemperate: a photo of what appeared to be an African child kissing the rear end of a cow and a cheeky suggestion that Schleuning might direct her energies to eradicating such practices. Then came another round of correspondence, in which Fallon McElligott sent Schleuning a pith helmet, a mosquito net and an offer to pay her expenses to Africa "one way." By this time, Schleuning had alerted the St. Paul-based Minnesota Women's Consortium, which mailed copies of Fallon McElligott's letters to the press and some of the agency's clients.

Fallon McElligott issued apologies to all concerned, but the gesture was too late. One of its biggest accounts, the U S WEST Bell telephone company, now says it will not renew its contract with the agency, valued as high as $10 million annually. The reason: the BITCH, BITCH, BITCH affair. Said a satisfied Schleuning: "This is Fallon McElligott's worst possible nightmare come true. I couldn't have set this one up if I had tried."