Gossip Girl
Aims Sex Threesome at Teens
The CW’s teenage soap opera Gossip Girl is no stranger to
either controversy or low television standards. From early
episodes, when a character fantasized about raping a girl, to
its many scenes showing irresponsible sexual actions among
teenagers, to its constant depictions of teenagers drinking and
using drugs, Gossip Girl is at the forefront of
programming depicting such behavior as glamorous and exciting.
Though the CW publicly claims to
target women 18-34 – a claim repeated as fact by credulous TV
“critics” – it is indisputable that the network, and Gossip
Girl in particular, are wildly popular with teenagers. Mere
weeks after its 2007 premiere, the program was declared “the
top-rated new show among teens 12-17” by Media Life
magazine, which demonstrated that Gossip Girl’s premiere
was watched by more youngsters than were such popular teen shows
as The O.C., Veronica Mars, and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
Experts from
various fields also recognize the show’s appeal to -- and
influence over – teens:
"The [actors] look young and they probably are not, but it's just
normalizing what is acceptable behavior. It's promoting a
lifestyle and making something more glamorous... It's
normalizing the sexualization of young people," says Penn State
University Communications Professor John Chapin. Advertisers
also recognize Gossip Girl’s influence; "the show has a
profound influence on retail. It may well be the biggest
[fashion] influence in the youth culture market," said
Bloomingdales fashion director Stephanie Solomon in 2008. The
same year, the CW itself admitted as much, calling its
text-message slang ad campaign a way to appeal to Gossip Girl's
"media-savvy young adult fans.”
Certainly teens themselves think
the show is aimed at them, and many even recognize the
powerfully persuasive nature the program has for their age
group. As 14-year-old fan Layla Alter stated in a Reuters
interview, "It's like Sex and the City with more drama
and for younger kids…It's kind of like what you want life to
be.”
Add to this the CW’s strategy in
marketing Gossip Girl. Ads for the show have heavily
featured teen text-message slang like “OMFG” and lines like
“Every Parent’s Nightmare.” Are women in their thirties
attracted to TV shows based on how much those programs might
irritate their parents? Doesn’t that sound like a marketing
strategy that would appeal more to teenagers than adult women?
Finally, there are the program’s lead characters themselves.
How many 34-year-old women are fascinated by the lives of
18-year-olds?
The average age of Gossip Girl
viewers may indeed be 27, if one measures only those viewers who
watch the show live in prime time. But also going by such
measures, Gossip Girl is a failure, rarely ranking in
the top 100 most-watched shows per week. However, the
overwhelming majority of Gossip Girl’s viewers – namely,
teens – do not watch the show on television in prime time.
Gossip Girl’s creator Josh Schwartz has boasted, "I can
honestly say I don't check the ratings after the show airs,"
because he knows that the vast majority of his teen viewers are
watching the program online. Gossip Girl has become a
runaway hit on the Internet, with tech-savvy youngsters using a
variety of means, from web video, to downloads, to DVR, to many
other means, to follow the show.
Teenage girls are an
especially valued audience. They are particularly loyal to
their favorite shows, and are vocal in convincing friends to
start watching. They're also inclined to stick with favorite
shows as they grow older. All these are traits which advertisers
value. It is foolish to think that the CW is not
attempting to appeal to teens with shows like Gossip Girl…just
as it is foolish to believe that an industry which charges
advertisers hundreds of millions of dollars for toy, candy and
clothing commercials has absolutely no influence on young
people’s minds.
►
To see the PTC’s review of
Gossip Girl,
click here.
►
To contact your local
CW station and urge them not to air this episode,
click here.
