US WEST, hoping to keep sexually suggestive ads out of its yellow pages, has tightened its restrictions on advertisements for the massage industry.
Joan Callander, standards manager for US WEST, agrees that massage therapy is a legitimate industry that caters to skiers and businesses.But Callander said the term "out-calls" has a double meaning "on the street," and US WEST does not want to carry suggestive ads.
"We will allow them to make reference to that type of thing," she said, "that is coming to a hotel, office or other business."
US WEST Direct's Yellow Pages has sometimes allowed the term, but Callander said that was an office mistake.
"On our own internal guideline, we inadvertently left out the word `out-call,' " she said. The 1993/-1994 Yellow Pages contained at least two ads with the words "out-call," but now neither "out-call" nor "in-call" will be allowed in ad copy.
"But we try to work with our advertisers to let them get across what they want to say," she added.
Callander said US WEST's oversight generated a lot of unwanted calls to their advertisers.
"We have issued a revision of our own guidelines," she said.
Licensed massage therapist Randy Nikola said the issue has been blown out of proportion. Nikola, who is also president of the Utah chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association, said the concern over the term "out-calls" is new to him.
He said US WEST was willing to work with him and he understands that it must be consistent in its standards, which now apply to 14 states, including some states where some massage businesses are not all "aboveboard."
David Timmon, a licensed massage therapist, said he had to change his advertisement three or four times before it was acceptable to US WEST.