The culture wars roll on and on! With the approach of the Super Bowl, we have the approach of more ridiculous advertising controversies. Check it out right here.
Apparently NBC is already trying to prevent any possible trouble with the Super Bowl broadcast by refusing to air an ad for vegetarianism by PETA. Too sexual, they argue. One part of the ad, according to NBC’s interpretation, suggests that an actress is “screwing herself with a broccoli.”
Now, unfortunately, we can’t see this for ourselves and decide whether or not this is appropriate because NBC is letting itself be bullied into acting like our broadcast nannies. We must be protected from ourselves because we are too dumb to handle a simple TV ad, or we are such incompetent parents that we don’t know how to raise our children so they are not scarred and corrupted for life by a vegetarianism ad.
The root of all this, of course, is the fact that Super Bowl broadcasts are now anniversaries of the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” and the Parents Television Council’s reign of terror. Following the Jackson situation, the FCC went psychotic and issued more fines against broadcasters in the following year than fines it had proposed issuing in the previous 10 years. This was all due to the prompting of the members of the PTC.
I am certain that these champions of censorship will soon enough be celebrating their ability to keep more expression they don’t like from the airwaves. Check out their web page and keep an eye on this, I suggest. Or, better yet, since these folks like to start complaint campaigns – the home page of their organization has no fewer than THREE links to file an FCC complaint – maybe people can take the time to send them a message and let them know that Americans don’t appreciate their First Amendment rights being trampled upon by bullies and cheap thugs.
The culture wars, in the meantime, will keep rolling on the web broadcasts of WSPC Culture Wars as well. Every Thursday at noon, Eastern time.
Apparently NBC is already trying to prevent any possible trouble with the Super Bowl broadcast by refusing to air an ad for vegetarianism by PETA. Too sexual, they argue. One part of the ad, according to NBC’s interpretation, suggests that an actress is “screwing herself with a broccoli.”
Now, unfortunately, we can’t see this for ourselves and decide whether or not this is appropriate because NBC is letting itself be bullied into acting like our broadcast nannies. We must be protected from ourselves because we are too dumb to handle a simple TV ad, or we are such incompetent parents that we don’t know how to raise our children so they are not scarred and corrupted for life by a vegetarianism ad.
The root of all this, of course, is the fact that Super Bowl broadcasts are now anniversaries of the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” and the Parents Television Council’s reign of terror. Following the Jackson situation, the FCC went psychotic and issued more fines against broadcasters in the following year than fines it had proposed issuing in the previous 10 years. This was all due to the prompting of the members of the PTC.
I am certain that these champions of censorship will soon enough be celebrating their ability to keep more expression they don’t like from the airwaves. Check out their web page and keep an eye on this, I suggest. Or, better yet, since these folks like to start complaint campaigns – the home page of their organization has no fewer than THREE links to file an FCC complaint – maybe people can take the time to send them a message and let them know that Americans don’t appreciate their First Amendment rights being trampled upon by bullies and cheap thugs.
The culture wars, in the meantime, will keep rolling on the web broadcasts of WSPC Culture Wars as well. Every Thursday at noon, Eastern time.
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