Why the coupons were removed

BOISE - Boise State students are buzzing about a coupon book they received the first week of school.

For the past three years a coupon for condoms from a locally-owned business appeared in the book.  This year – the coupons are gone.

The owner of The O! Zone Condom Shop said she hasn’t received any complaints about the coupons.  But the publisher said they did receive some complaints and decided to rip out the store’s coupon just before handing off the book to students.

"After seven semesters I was stunned," said Caryn Thompson, owner of The O!Zone.

Thompson says her intent is to inform and educate and she still can't understand why she was removed from this coupon book.

"These are products you can get on campus at the health center, there's condom machines in the dorm room so it isn't anything that is out of place or unusual," she said.

At Boise State, bookstore managers say for the first time complaints came in from a handful of people and the comments were then relayed to the publisher.

"It was the publisher that made the decision to remove the coupons. They provided the personnel and made the decision to do so," Boise State University spokesperson Frank Zang said.

But the CEO of the publishing company out of Kansas said that isn’t true and that his company was really given no choice from Boise State.

"They said they had complaints from higher ups and that they could not distribute the book so they told us to come pick them up or they were going to come dispose of them," said Jeff Brooks, Brooks Publishing CEO.

Brooks hired temporary workers to rip out the O! Zone Condom Shop coupon from each and every book because it was just too late to reprint the entire booklet.

"Its ridiculous to say that college people are not involved in sexual activity so why not give them a little coupon to remind them to do it safely," student Alex Lorenzana said.

"I think a lot of people look through those so I think some people may feel slightly offended,” senior Rebecca McKelvey said. “But we are bombarded by things all the time.”

"I don't find it offensive,” junior Brandon Ensign said. “This is 2008 not 1950.”

Boise State says it would like to distribute the coupons in alternative ways such as at University Health Services.

As for next year, the O! Zone Condom Shop owner says she would like to be in the booklet again, but ultimately she says its up to the publisher.

Stores that want to be in that coupon book pay the publishing company $150 to be included.

Brooks Publishing says O! Zone will receive a full refund.