COCA-COLA CO. PULLS ADS FROM WWF BROADCASTS.

Byline: Justin Bachman Associated Press

``Stone Cold'' Steve Austin swills beer, spouts profanity and salutes other wrestlers with obscene gestures. The Godfather enters the ring with a stable of scantily clad women. Female wrestlers pull each other's hair and bikinis as they stumble around in high heels.

Such antics have propelled the World Wrestling Federation to sizzling ratings, but it is creating problems for advertisers like Coca-Cola Co.

The sponsors are torn between access to a loyal, young audience and program content many companies don't want to be associated with.

Coke ended its two-year advertising relationship with the WWF last month, citing objectionable language and content on broadcasts such as the Monday night cable program ``RAW is WAR,'' which draws about 6 million viewers each week.

But the nation's biggest soft drink company continues to advertise with WWF's main rival, World Championship Wrestling, a subsidiary of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System.

Although the WCW has recently been accused of making its programs more racy to compete with the WWF, Atlanta-based Coke says the WWF has gone too far.

``It crossed the line in terms of content, particularly in terms of language and story lines,'' Coke spokesman Bob Bertini said Monday, declining to discuss any specific programs or routines. ``It's not about one episode or one particular character. It's what we observed over a period of time.''

Coke's decision comes as the Parents Television Council, a Los Angeles-based conservative group, pressures advertisers to drop WWF's weekly show ``WWF Smackdown!'' the top-rated program on the fledgling UPN network.

L. Brent Bozell III, the group's founder, said the Air Force and Army have suspended advertising with the WWF while several others are considering it.

``We're telling these companies you can no longer distinguish the values of the sponsor from the values of the show they sponsor,'' he said.

An Indiana University communications professor, Walter Gantz, monitored 100 hours of WWF programming and reported 1,658 instances of wrestlers grabbing or pointing to their crotch, 434 uses of an an obscene phrase and 128 instances of simulated sexual activity.

WWF chairman Vince McMahon blasted Coke's decision as ``discriminatory, hypocritical, and an affront to free speech,'' and labeled Bozell ``a right-wing zealot.''

Coke's decision won't reduce WWF revenue. Advertising money from Coke made up 3 percent of WWF revenue, but its ad slots were ``immediately snapped up by the movie studios and video game manufacturers at a premium,'' WWF spokesman Jim Byrne said Monday.

``This is almost a hide-your-eyes kind of thing'' for advertisers, said Steven Karel, managing director of Extreme Championship Wrestling, the No. 3 player in the industry. ``The advertiser loves to see these big ratings, and they're going to take the shot on it until someone brings it into the public forum where they take the heat for it.''

CAPTION(S):

Box: BAD TO THE BONE

Wrestlers behaving badly

Sources: Compiled by A P wire reports; World Wrestling Federation; World Championship Wrestling

Associated Press