Does anything go on network TV these days?
It may seem that way with all the sex and violence, but the people who pay for commercials still vote with their checkbooks when it comes to deciding where to air their ads.
Many advertisers are especially vigilant about not offending potential customers – and have standards for avoiding shows that contain profanity, gratuitous sex and graphic violence. But one rule is key: Madison Avenue takes its cues from the viewer.
For example:
• Many sponsors resisted the foulmouthed kids on “South Park” and “The Osbournes” when they started.
• When “NYPD Blue” first brought nudity and realistic language to network prime time, many sponsors stayed away.
• “The Shield” faced the same problem when it pushed content even further.
• Even “Law & Order” experienced advertiser pullouts in its early years when it tackled controversial issues.
The fear that a letter from an offended viewer can end up on the desk of a company CEO who advertises on a show keeps advertising firms on constant guard.
“Any letter is a very big concern to an ad agency, and we spend a lot of time trying to avoid them and a lot of time making sure a commercial is in an appropriate environment,” said a top executive at a major ad-buying firm.
However, once the public turns a show into a mass-appeal hit, advertisers’ reluctance disappears.
“If consumers are more willing to accept something, then advertisers are going to accept it,” said Steve Sternberg, who analyzes programming for ad-buying firm Magna Global.
Program content ranks third in importance to ad buyers, behind the number of viewers reached and the demographic makeup of the audience (age, sex and income), according to a recent survey taken by CBS.
In fact, if advertisers want to attract young audiences, they have no choice but to run their commercials in shows with racy content.
“If you’re selling movies, video games or cars and want to reach 18- to 49-year-olds, you have to be in material that resonates with them,” says Laura Caraccioli-Davis, vice president of media-buying company SMG Entertainment. “Some brands want to be cool and irreverent.”
There are some that don’t. Companies that seek to maintain a wholesome family image for its products, such as Johnson & Johnson, Hallmark and Procter & Gamble, will stay away from racier shows. To ensure that doesn’t happen, most ad agencies depend on Advertising Industry Services, a company that previews about 700 shows a month and writes synopses to keep advertisers informed about program content.
AIS even has screeners attend tapings of “The Late Show” and “The Tonight Show” so an advertiser can be alerted if its product is the butt of a joke in a David Letterman or Jay Leno monologue.
Agencies will pull out of a show if the content doesn’t meet an advertiser’s guidelines. But with HBO and the other cable networks pushing the boundaries with shows like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” (which will soon be on ad-supported TV), broadcast networks have to do the same to compete.
“There are quality, upscale audiences passionately following those (HBO) shows,” said Warren Littlefield, the former head of NBC Entertainment, now an independent producer. “That’s an audience that networks and advertisers want.”
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(c) 2003, New York Daily News.
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AP-NY-10-16-03 1024EDT
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