FORT WORTH, Texas (May 17, 2007) –
Today at the annual RadioShack shareholders meeting
in Fort Worth, the
Parents Television Council™
called on the corporation to reassess its
sponsorship of shows that contain extremely graphic
depictions of violence, death and heinous crimes.
The PTC insisted that RadioShack protect its hard
earned brand by adopting family-friendly advertising
guidelines that reflect its corporate values. The
following are excerpts of remarks given by Julie
Feuerbacher, PTC’s Director of Development, at the
meeting:
“I am here specifically to address
RadioShack’s consistent pattern of advertising on
some of the most violent and vulgar programming on
television. It appears to me, and to the Parents
Television Council’s 1.1 million members, that
RadioShack does not have media guidelines in place
to keep its name off of programs containing graphic
and explicit content.
“Just recently, for example,
RadioShack sponsored an episode of The Sopranos
in which the character Bacala Sr. kills two people:
Sal and his friend. The murder is extremely graphic
with multiple gun shot wounds and blood. Bacala is
then shown crashing his car and dying. RadioShack
also has supported CSI: New York which
constantly depicts death and autopsies with
flashbacks recounting the way people were shot,
stabbed or raped.
“The PTC’s message to RadioShack is
this – your advertising dollars reflect your
corporate values. I doubt the Board of Directors or
the shareholders would be proud of these examples
your media dollars support. I am here today to
plead with you, on behalf of millions of Americans,
to stop underwriting sleaze and adopt responsible
advertising guidelines that will keep RadioShack off
of programming that contains foul language,
gratuitous sex, and graphic violence.
“Will RadioShack continue paying for
the ‘cultural sewage’ that is broadcast into our
homes on a nightly basis? Or, will RadioShack be a
responsible corporate citizen and dedicate its
advertising dollars toward sponsoring pro-social,
family-friendly programming?
“The Parents Television Council would
like your response to this question by June first so
that we may let our 1.1 million members know whether
or not RadioShack is dedicated to responsible
advertising and not to return to sponsoring some of
the most offensive and violent programming on
television. I hope that I will be able to tell them
that RadioShack is adopting advertising guidelines
that reflect its corporate values.”
