I recently heard about the new show on MTV named Skins, and was a little shocked by the idea that children under legal age are being portrayed on national television in a way that is revealing and called by some "pornographic." When I heard that a lot of companies advertising on MTV asked to be pulled off the air during the show, I was not surprised. It seems like PR is a huge part of marketing. A company treads carefully when its reputation is questioned through its endorsements.
"It's a show replete with all sorts of problematic and offensive content like illegal drug use, illegal activity, foul language and essentially nonstop sexual content," Mr. Isett said. "Compounding that is the fact that the actual actors portraying these characters on the show are in fact children, and it's also equally clear that the show has been marketed to children."The show Skins just seems wrong on so many levels. First of all, what were companies thinking when they opted in (or at least didn't opt out) of a show that portrayed teenage sex, promiscuity, illegal drug use/activity and bad language? I doubt that Subway could really be considered at fault and I'm sure they just wanted a piece of the advertising/marketing pie that MTV offers, but come on! What's the point of MTV airing all of the "above the influence" ads if they promote just the opposite?
I guess my big question is what would you do if you were being pressured to remove your commercial from the air during a show? Is it worthwhile to submit to the pressure of parental groups? Why is it so necessary to respond to them and do they really have enough power to hurt your business?
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