In this issue

October 10, 2008

BET's Rap City Cancelled!
Ford Repeats: No Advertising On Swingtown!
Levi's Commercials: Using Sex to Sell to Teens
What We're Seeing: Teens Having Sex
Beverly Hills Chihuahua Wins PTC Seal of Approval
PTC Movie Picks
PTC TV Picks

Statistic of the Week:

According to a 2007 Yankelovich poll, 63% of parents with children say the content of programs forces parents and children to watch TV separately. -- Advertising Age, June 19, 2008

Media Quote of the Week:

"On TV ... fickle men and their trashy urges are still supposed to be funny and not tragic. Soulless and smug, they follow their desires into one lewd and humiliating situation after another, yet we're meant to love them in spite of great faults. The assumption that these characters will appeal to mainstream Americans should probably be blamed on a handful of middle-aged creative executives in Hollywood, surrounded by hot aspiring actresses and trophy wives but still painfully aware of their fading sex appeal. Little do they know that most American men aren't half as depraved as they are." —Salon TV critic Heather Havrilesky (Salon.com, September 28, 2008, via Focus on the Family's Plugged In Online)

BET's Rap City Cancelled!

The Parents Television Council, the Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility, the National Congress of Black Women, and Industry Ears jointly praised the announcement that BET has cancelled the music video show, Rap City. This move comes on the heels of a recent announcement that BET President Reginald Hudlin resigned.

Earlier this year, the PTC, in partnership with the Enough is Enough Campaign, undertook a research study regarding BET's and MTV's daytime music video programming. The study concluded that as recently as March 2008, children who watched BET's Rap City and 106 & Park and MTV's Sucker Free on MTV were bombarded with adult content - sexual, violent, profane or obscene - once every 38 seconds. PTC and the Enough is Enough Campaign announced the findings of the study at the National Press Club in Washington DC with the participation of Industry Ears and the National Congress of Black Women.

The following is a joint statement by PTC President Tim Winter; Enough is Enough Campaign Founder Dr. Delman Coates; National Congress of Black Women Chair Dr. E. Faye Williams; and Industry Ears Co-Founder Paul Porter:

"We are heartened by the recent changes at BET, and we are gratified that our collective efforts were a catalyst for this positive change. It is apparent that our voices were heard by the public, by the corporate sponsors who underwrite television programming and by BET network executives. Parents across this country want a cessation of marketing harmful, graphic and offensive images to children. But let us be clear about our goal: we are not trying to get a particular show cancelled or a particular executive fired. Rather, our goal is a reduction in the harmful and offensive messages on BET and MTV programming – especially when the programs are targeted at children. We have called for the networks to take responsibility for their products, and this program's cancellation is evidence of a step in the right direction." ► more

Ford Repeats: No Advertising On Swingtown!

Thanks to the PTC's relentless action with advertisers, CBS' program celebrating ‘70s drug use and extra-marital sex orgies, Swingtown, failed miserably on broadcast television. When the series ended its run on broadcast TV, it had lost nearly 70% of the viewers it had at its premiere! Understandably, advertisers deserted the perverse program in droves. CBS has been trying to sell the series to cable in a desperate attempt to recoup some portion of the massive revenue loss the sleazy show inflicted on the network.

Entertainment Weekly has announced that basic cable network Bravo has agreed to fill time by rerunning Swingtown this fall; but the network has been careful to state that it has no plans to produce new episodes of the tawdry drama. Bravo should know that there is one major advertiser who will not be sponsoring the program: Ford Motor Company. In an email to the PTC, Ford Manager of Media Planning Susan Venen-Bock stated, "we are reissuing our warning about this property," meaning that all Ford dealerships will be made aware that Ford wants nothing to do with Swingtown. The PTC congratulates Ford for upholding family values – and good taste.

► Click Here to learn more about our Advertiser Accountability Campaign.

Blue jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss has launched a new – and sexually suggestive – advertising campaign for its Levi's 501 jeans. Called "Live Unbuttoned," the campaign has included a number of innuendo-laden TV commercials. In one, a teenage boy and girl undress in front of one another, the camera focusing on their crotches as they open their pants. The scene is accompanied with sexually suggestive dialogue like, "You've never done this before, right?," "I'm scared" and "Don't you trust me?" Though the teens are actually talking about jumping off a pier into a lake, the imagery and dialogue are clearly meant to suggest their first time having sexual intercourse.

Another television ad features an underwear-clad teenager sitting beside a bed staring at a sleeping woman, clearly after a sexual encounter. A narrator asks, "What's it gonna be? Ya gonna wake her up? Kiss ‘er goodbye? Tell ‘er you love ‘er?" When the teen puts on his jeans and leaves without a word, the narrator approvingly states, "That's what I'm sayin'! Some things are better left undone." A final tagline encourages the presumably-teen audience to "Live unbuttoned" – and, apparently, irresponsibly.

Now, Levi's is extending its edgy "Live Unbuttoned" advertising to the internet. In a new campaign aimed at boys, Levi's urges jeans wearers to "Unbutton Your Beast." A visitor to the website Unbuttonyourbeast.com can choose from a variety of animated phallic symbols, which then emerge from the fly of a pair of jeans. Choices include "Trout Troutman," a fishlike phallus; "Sock Nasty," a trash-talking stuffed sock; and the knight-like Sir Reginald Mighty Pants, who proclaims, "My sword may be tiny, but my poke is mighty!"

"It's provocative and interesting," boasts Doug Sweeny, Levi's director of brand marketing. But not everyone is interested; Advertising Age magazine reports that reactions from internet bloggers have included "shocking," "tasteless," and "crude."

In a world where TV programs like Gossip Girl and 90210 relentlessly depict teens having sex without consequences, Levi's "Live Unbuttoned" campaign is irresponsible at best. The PTC has received many letters and emails from parents concerned about this advertising campaign, and has reached out to Levi's repeatedly in hopes of urging them to modify or drop such ads. Levi's has refused to return the PTC's calls.

Levi's claims that it has not received any complaints about its new campaign. If you think that the "Live Unbuttoned" TV and internet campaign is inappropriate for teens, you can TAKE ACTION! Contact information for Levis is provided below. 
 

What We're Seeing: Teens Having Sex

Last year, the fall premiere season of the broadcast networks' new programs was characterized by an overwhelming emphasis on bizarre sexual practices. This fall, broadcast TV is again focused on sex…with several disturbing trends emerging. One of these is an overwhelmingly positive focus on teenagers having sex.

To those in charge of the entertainment industry, teenagers having sex with one another seems to be the ideal state of affairs. Of course, those who would argue that it might be best for teens to defer this most intimate and personal of experiences until they are older are portrayed as clueless and hopelessly old-fashioned…not only by the programs, but by the teenage characters in the programs themselves.

► To read examples of this latest TV trend click here.

► Click here to read more TV Trends columns.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua Wins PTC Seal of Approval

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Release Date: October 3, 2008
MPAA rating: PG for some mild thematic elements
Starring: Voices of Drew Barrymore, Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo and Edward James Olmos
Recommended age: 6+
Overall PTC Traffic Light Rating: Green

Chloe is the spoiled, pampered pet of Beverly Hills fashion designer Aunt Viv, beloved by Papi, the pet of  Viv's landscaper Sam. When Viv goes on a business trip, she entrusts Chloe to her irresponsible niece Rachel, who takes Chloe along on a trip to Mexico. Chloe is "dognapped" and placed in a dogfighting arena, but escapes with the help of former police dog Delgado. While Rachel, Sam and Papi frantically search Mexico for her, Chloe and Delgado try to get back to Beverly Hills – encountering adventure and romance along the way.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is ideal family-friendly entertainment. Starring talking animals children will sympathize with and love, the movie is filled with action, adventure, romance and positive messages, yet never slides into violence or crudity for its humor, and is a model for others in the entertainment industry to follow. The Parents Television Council is proud to award Beverly Hills Chihuahua with the PTC Seal of Approval^TM. The PTC recommends this movie for children over age six. ► more

► For more PTC movie reviews click here.

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