PTC Insider Article
June 2002

Good News From Hollywood! And YOU Helped Make It Happen

We're seeing signs everywhere that the PTC is having a major impact on "business as usual" in Hollywood. There's no doubt about it -- the PTC has been leading the charge to restore responsibility to the entertainment industry, and now we're getting results!

Two recent examples, both of which made national headlines, point to the changing winds.

When we learned about the obscene content on FX's new cop drama, The Shield, the PTC took action. We launched a national campaign to educate the program's sponsors about the nudity, explicit sex, obscene language, and graphic violence featured on the program. To date, 17 companies have decided that the offensive sewage on The Shield does not reflect their corporate values, and have withdrawn their advertising support. They include Cingular Wireless, W.C. Bradley, Palm Inc., WD-40, LendingTree.com, U.S. Navy, XM Satellite Radio, Budget Rent a Car, Subway, Tricon Global Restaurants, and, according to Variety, the U.S. Army, Subaru, Honda Power Equipment, Gillette, MCI 1-800-Collect, Burger King, and Office Depot.

Major news outlets are standing up and taking notice, too. Broadcasting & Cable, Fox News Channel, Electronic Media, and others are acknowledging the PTC's success.

Although The Shield has already been picked up for another season, the Tampa Tribune reports that "FX could lose up to $26 million on the first 13 episodes" because of advertiser attrition.

More good news: In April TNT and Johnson & Johnson struck a deal to develop family-friendly movies for TV. Johnson & Johnson will be able to review and submit scripts for movies that will air under the name "Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentations" on TNT. According to TNT General Manager Steve Koonin, the movies will highlight heroic characters and "positive and uplifting messages" and will feature "stories that a family can watch and then sit around and discuss."

It is exactly the kind of partnership the PTC has been encouraging for years.

The motivation for the deal is simple: "We want there to be more options for families to watch programming together during the prime time hours," says Johnson & Johnson spokesman Marc Monseau.

This is great news for families! In a formal statement released nationally, PTC Founder and President L. Brent Bozell III said, "The Parents Television Council commends the TNT cable network for seizing the opportunity to work with Johnson & Johnson to support family-friendly programming in prime time. This is another fine example of a major entertainment provider realizing the profitability of supporting responsible programming. We further commend Johnson & Johnson for acknowledging that the programs it chooses to support with its advertising dollars make a strong statement about its company values."
The PTC is showing millions of Americans that there is an organization out there aggressively working to clean up TV and to take America's demand for family-friendly programming directly to the networks and sponsors – and we're getting results.