NBC
– once home to family programs like The Cosby Show and The
Wonderful World of Disney – has announced that, as part of its fall
lineup, it will air The Playboy Club, a program set in the 1960s
at one of the infamous clubs started by Hugh Hefner, founder of the
pornographic Playboy magazine.
Organizations like
Pornography Harms and
Morality in Media (both headed by members of the PTC’s Advisory Board)
have shown the immeasurable harm that pornography does to marriages,
families, and children. And in our study
Tinsel Town’s New Target, the PTC demonstrated that the
entertainment industry is helping to promote the pornographic mindset by
sexualizing teenage women and young girls.
The Playboy Club is the latest and most
obvious example of the way the entertainment industry is mainstreaming and
even glamorizing pornography. While episodes of the program have not yet
been screened, the mere fact that the show uses the word “Playboy” in the
title, and that its stories take place in an exploitative, sexist setting
demonstrate that the show’s creative staff – and the NBC network – are
eager to push a pornography-based show into every home in America.
This isn’t a pay-per-view program available only to
HBO or Showtime subscribers. The Playboy Club will be beamed into
every living room in the nation, in prime time, over the publicly-owned
airwaves. Do YOU want to explain to YOUR channel-surfing children what a
“Playboy Club” is?
Some stations are fighting back. Utah NBC affiliate
KSL announced earlier this week that it would not air The Playboy Club,
stating that the station’s values are “completely inconsistent with the
Playboy brand." Where does YOUR local NBC station stand? Is showing
The Playboy Club in prime time to children consistent with your
station’s values and their obligations to the public interest?
Broadcast stations are required by law to take into
account community standards and the public interest. YOU are a member of
the public. If YOU want to do something about the flood of “entertainment”
glamorizing pornography and sexualizing YOUR little girls…if YOU are
offended that NBC is pushing The Playboy Club over the airwaves
that YOU OWN…YOU can TAKE ACTION NOW!
Call your local NBC station and tell them you DON’T
want them to air The Playboy Club next fall…and if they do, you
won’t watch. Then ask them how the businesses that advertise on their
station will feel about that!
Remember: NBC is a huge corporation, but your local
station isn’t! Affiliates are MUCH more responsive to what their local
viewers want…so make your opinion known!
CALL YOUR LOCAL NBC STATION AND TELL THEM NOT TO
AIR THE PLAYBOY CLUB NEXT FALL!
To find the phone number of your local NBC station,
enter your zip code below.
And please consider
assisting the PTC financially.
It’s only YOUR support that enables us to protect YOUR children from
explicit sex on TV!
