LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 17, 2007) – At the annual YUM! Brands shareholders meeting, the Parents Television Council™, a non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious group committed to protecting children from sex, violence and profanity in entertainment, called on the company to change its advertising practices to sponsor more family-friendly television shows.  Excerpts follow from the statement given by Glen Erickson, manager of advertiser programs for the PTC, at the meeting today:

 

“I am here today because YUM! Brands consistently advertise on television programming that contains graphic violence, excessive sexual content and foul language, and we believe this needs to stop.

 

“Chairman Novak, the PTC has been here before with little or no response from YUM! Brands.  Surely, you must understand how irresponsibility in the media marketplace can undermine your good brand names.  KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are all family-friendly brand names.  It is a shame that their parent, YUM!, cannot demonstrate leadership as a responsible corporate citizen as reflected in the support of the company’s consistent negative ad placement.

 

“It appears to me, and to the Parents Television Council’s 1.1 million members, that YUM! does not have media guidelines in place to keep its name off of programs containing graphic, vulgar and explicit content.

 

“Over the past year, YUM! Brands have sponsored such shows as the Sopranos, CSI: Miami and 24 on the Fox television network.  The program 24 is known for its extreme violence, but one particular episode stands out that was sponsored by YUM! Brands.  In this episode, the lead character Jack bites one of his captor’s necks.  The man is shown lying in a pool of blood.  In another scene of that same show, a man is shot in the knee and then the chest.

 

“Your advertising dollars reflect your corporate values.  I doubt the board of directors or the shareholders would be proud of this program that your family-friendly brands supported.

 

“I am pleading with you, on behalf of millions of Americans, to stop underwriting offensive content and adopt responsible advertising guidelines that will keep YUM! Brands off of programming that contains foul language, gratuitous sex, and graphic violence.  Please embrace your responsibility to society by being an economic, intellectual and social asset to the television viewing community.”