The CW recently released risqué campaign posters to get new viewers to tune in to its show Gossip Girl. The campaign, titled "OMFG," got fans and the press talking as soon as the sexy posters hit the web and magazines. Two posters were released: the one you see on the right featuring characters Serena and Nate, and another one with Blair and Chuck. Also, a "OMG" version of both posters was used.This week, the Parents Television Council (PTC) took notice of the ads and declared war against The CW.
MediaWeek reports that the PTC believes the posters are too sexually suggestive. A Council representative says that the PTC "deplores the CW's deliberate use of profanity and sexual imagery to exploit and further corrupt young viewers." Being one of the most-watched shows among teen girls, the PTC is worried that such ads and the show's storylines will influence negatively the vulnerable viewers.
I must admit that when I first saw the posters earlier this month, I was worried that the show crossed a line with the censors and the PTC. As a fan of the show, I don't think the posters are representative of the series. Yes, the characters have sex but the show is not only about that. The show is about the struggles of teens growing up on the Upper East Side of New York, including the sex, drugs, back stabbing, etc., that is part of the world nowadays.
I can see why the PTC is worried, especially since the show now airs at 8 p.m. If you ask me, with the storylines that they sometimes have on the show, it's more suited for a 9 p.m. airing. However, if parents watch the series with their teens, it could be a good opportunity to talk about the tricky subjects covered on the show.
The CW has yet to reply to the PTC's comments about the posters and show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-24-2008 @ 7:26PM
JW said...
I don't see anything wrong with the images, but the "WTF" and "OFMG"? Why don't they just go ahead and spell it out. I noticed this last week when I watched Smallville, except they flashed "OMG" really fast like a subliminal message. I don't think most Smallville fans would watch it anyways. The normal GG commercials seem to fit in with the posters, so I guess it works.
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4-24-2008 @ 8:17PM
0megapart!cle said...
"Yes, the characters have sex but the show is not only about that. The show is about the struggles of teens growing up on the Upper East Side of New York, including the sex, drugs, back stabbing, etc., that is part of the world nowadays."
OMFG, you don't really think that the ridiculous lives these characters lead in any way resembles real life, do you? I hope not!
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4-24-2008 @ 8:20PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
Of course I know it's not real life and doesn't resemble it 100%. It's make believe. Sadly, I do know of a few teens who have/had lives (or a few months) of sex, drugs, etc. :'( Luckily, most of them got help or are getting help.
4-24-2008 @ 8:32PM
Gordon Werner said...
I have only one thing to say to the prudes at the PTC
V-Chip. Learn It. Use it.
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4-24-2008 @ 10:27PM
Zac said...
Better yet, see that Channel Up and Down buttons as well as the Off button? Learn to use it!
4-25-2008 @ 6:30PM
Brent McKee said...
Didn't you know? The Networks subvert the V-Chip by callously misrating their shows. The PTC has a column each week that tells you so. Why just a couple of weeks ago an episode of "Dancing With The Stars" was misrated PG when it "contained a reference to pornography and a bleeped expletive, yet was only rated TV PG."
http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/Ratings/2008/0418.asp
Look, these people clearly think that the "Parents" in Parents Television Council refers to them exclusively and that the rest of you are the children that need to be protected from the evil Networks.
Me? I'm Canadian - we're considered adult enough that the sight of a bare breast (at any time of the day as long as it is in a "non-sexual context") or the use of the "F"-word (after 9 p.m. local time) is considered no big deal.
4-24-2008 @ 8:49PM
Noah said...
okay 8 may be an early time for the show, so bump it to 9
and PTC get over the advertisement, it's slang, as someone that is in
advertising, I don't think they are doing anything wrong, interpret
how you want, oh my flippin gosh
and they may not even be doing it in the photo, let's not jump to conclusions, he could have been smelling her perfume and she slipped on a dog toy that was left on the floor
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4-24-2008 @ 8:56PM
eugene said...
god, as a parent, I'm so sick of parents running around and screaming, "Won't somebody think of the children?!!!"
How about this, why don't YOU think about YOUR kids and stop trying to legislate what the rest of us watch. The rest of us shouldn't have to do your job for you, it's your kid be a parent. If you don't want your kid watching such-and-such programming, do your job and discuss the issue with them, or if they're younger just stop them from watching.
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4-24-2008 @ 9:33PM
Televinita said...
Those posters do not even remotely make me want to watch Gossip Girl. In fact, they have the opposite effect.
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4-24-2008 @ 9:52PM
lucyfan62 said...
So the PTC is worried about an ad campaign using internet slang - nothing is spelled out but anyone who is internet savvy knows what it means, and if you don't know what it means I'm sure someone will tell you. Big deal. What I'm surprised no one is concerned about, and I've mentioned this before, is the underaged drinking that is glorified on the show. I enjoy the show very much, but it really bugs me that these teenage characters go out and get served without so much as a glance at their IDs! If this really happens in New York - whether you're upper crust or not - I'm relieved that I live nowhere in the vicinity! Even Jenny, who is 15 or so, was talking about the great mojitos at the place her friends were taking her to for her birthday! I'm more worried about teens drinking themselves to death (or killing others because they don't have a driver) because they see their favorite teenaged TV characters downing cocktails left and right more than if they know what OMFG means! I mean, really, WTF?!?!
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4-24-2008 @ 10:13PM
KateGee said...
Forget the OMFG - how about false advertising? That shot was from a flashback that happened in the first half of the series. It has nothing to do with anything that is happening now. I found that more disconcerting than the OMFG.
And yes, PARENTS should be the censors of what their children watch.
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4-24-2008 @ 10:11PM
Karen said...
I think it is crude an unnecessary to use OMFG on the posters. My children do not watch this show, but there is no way to read it without saying the words. You don't read the letters.
It is unnecessary.
And it just goes to decency. It has been hard to avoid these ads and while they have the right to use it, it is crappy of them to do so.
Individual parents are responsible for their children, but we also make judgements about what is good for our society and this goes over the line for a good number of people. This idea that nothing is wrong and only individual behaviors and choices matter is a bunch of crap.
It just wasn't necessary.
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4-24-2008 @ 11:30PM
Lenny said...
As a parent I agree that we're the ones who should be responsible for what our children watch, and monitoring of regularly broadcast shows is really easy if you're doing your job as a parent. On the other hand, these OMFG advertisements were all over the web, making them something that couldn't be necessarily known about beforehand. I don't think they're earth-shaking, but I do think they're in extremely poor taste and offensive. It speaks to an overall decline in societal standards.
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4-24-2008 @ 11:49PM
eugene said...
What do you mean, all over the web? They weren't on the nickolodeon site where my son watches ni-hao kai-lan or dora the explorer. I didn't see them on cnn.com.
If your son or daughter is old enough to be browsing sites that might have these advertisements, they already know about sex and the "F" word. If you think that they don't... well, in any event they're old enough for you to be having frank discussions about those topics anyways.
If they're not old enough for you to be discussing those topics, then WTF are you doing letting your kid browse those websites?
Again, the onus is on you as a parent.
4-25-2008 @ 1:59PM
Lenny said...
Eugene, I think you're missing my point, and it may be because I've explained it inadequately, and for that I apologize.
What I mean by those ads are all over the web is that they're not limited to just the CW's website, they're on other sites where television advertising is relevant. But even if they were only on the CW's site, there would be no way to know the potential offensiveness/age-appropriateness of an ad, unlike television shows which are scheduled and usually given a rating which makes it easy to decide what may be appropriate.
I have several children encompassing a very wide range of ages, but I first heard about this ad from my 2nd olest. She couldn't believe that adults running a network wouldn't know, or care, that such an ad would be widely regarded as offensive. I had to agree.
The majority of my children are old enough to know about most adult subjects, some are adults themselves and on their own. Just because they, and I, are all old enough for such subject matter doesn't mean we won't be offended by it when we aren't given a choice of seeing it. If you can't understand that, then nothing I say will make it clearer, I'm afraid.
The one child I have that's still very young is only allowed computer and web access with supervision and even then we have a monitoring software for that child's account. I don't think it's your place to judge my skills as a parent and I get the impression that you're a fairly young/new parent of smaller children. If this is so, you will find in the future, if it hasn't already happened to you, that other parents/people will sometimes try to judge your parenting skills and you will find it most distasteful.
"If they're not old enough for you to be discussing those topics, then WTF are you doing letting your kid browse those websites?
Again, the onus is on you as a parent."
This is a prime example of what I mean about judging the parenting skills of others. In my original post, I made it clear that I'm of the belief that parents are solely responsible for their children, but you seem to have ignored that fact and went right ahead and chided me for what I should do. Again, it makes you come across as a young person and a new, inexperienced parent, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you werent' trying to be insulting or offensive.
I think your only intention was to drive across your point about your beliefs as a parent and where the responsibilities lie with regards to the experiences of our children. If that was the case, then you and I are in complete agreement and really have no argument. Children or not, I do think ads like this one are offensive to many people and I'm not excluding myself.
4-25-2008 @ 6:25PM
eugene said...
Lenny,
The first part of my post was directed at your comment that these ads were "all over the web" and I was pointing out that they were not. I had never seen them before and I visit numerous, entertainment related websites.
The second part of my post was not so much directed at you, which I admit was unclear, but rather a general statement towards parents who feel that the rest of world needs to be sanitized for the sake of their children. My general disdain for these people who try to force their morality and values on other people unfairly came out on you and I apologize.
4-25-2008 @ 6:42PM
Lenny said...
No big deal, just a little misunderstanding between a couple of frustrated parents.
4-24-2008 @ 11:29PM
sitruc said...
Just say they're fighting and it's all good.
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4-25-2008 @ 12:14AM
Argus said...
Eugene... You really think that the ads would be on the websites of other networks? Lenny makes a valid point, if there was not this previous level of maturity in GG adverts, and suddenly they popped up on the web (say... on the CW site,) then it would be hard to deal with them as a parent before their effect was already felt.
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4-25-2008 @ 2:16AM
Derek said...
Yet another example of the prudish nature of the American culture these days. Reminds me of the UK show that aired at 6pm Friday's called "TFI Friday". It ran for years and I don't think anyone was ever outraged about what the F in TFI really meant.
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