Huge advertising attitude change

Press, 22 June 1981, Page 16

Huge advertising attitude change

NZPA New York Procter and Gamble, TVs biggest spender, has got. mixed reviews from Hollywood and Madison Avenue for refusing to advertise on 50 shows it deemed too violent or sexually explicit and for saying it listens "very carefully" to conservative critics of television. Procter and Gamble's chairman, Owen Butler, revealed the decisions, involving programmes last season, in a speedh before the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. He denied that the company, which spent $146.5 million on TV ads last year, was reacting to threats of boycotts by conservative coalitions monitoring TV programming. But he said those groups are expressing some very important and broadly held views about gratuitous sex, violence, and profanity. Lee Rich, president of Lorimar Productions, which makes "Dallas” and several other popular series, condemed Procter and Gamble’s decision as a replay of the Red scares of the 19505. Grant Tinker, president of MTM Productions, which makes "Lou Grant” and "WKRP”, praised Procter and Gamble, and said Mr Butler’s comments were “first-rate, excellent.” Among advertisers, many companies insisted they had been pre-screening TV programmes for “good taste” for decades — long before the current wave of conservative groups came along. But others said the Procter and Gamble statement meant that the impact of new conservative coalitions on advertising was undeniable, and might well grow. Conservative groups like the Moral Majority and the National Coalition on Television Violence say their tactics, 'which include letter campaigns and threatened, boycotts against advertisers, have sparked a heightened sensitivity among advertisers

to the sex and violence content of TV programme. General Foods, which spent $84.1 million on TV in 1980, has been boycotted since last October by the Clean Up: TV Campaign,: a Church of ; Christ-backed coalition based in Joelton, Tennessee. The coalition objects to General Foods' sponsorship of episodes of CBS's top-rated ''Dallas”. and ABC's "Charlie's Angels" and “Three's Company". “We recognise violence and .sex as acceptable themes in adult programming,” said Kathleen MacDonough, manager of corporate issues for General Foods. "We firmly believe that no single issue group or person has the right to set policy on

what everyone watches on television,she said. Network spokesmen said they do not expect Procter and Gamble's statement to trigger a - stampede away from shows with sexual or violent, content. Despite threatened boycotts. "Broadcast" magazine, forecasts that $l.B billion will be spent on prime-time advertising in the coming television seaspn, up from $1.7 billion this past year. "The bottom line has not been affected." said Gene Mater, vice-president for programme policy at CBS. "and we don't expect that it will be. Our problems with the .Moral Majority are not financial. We disagree with them in principle."