Another Company Cancels Advertising for “Skins”

MTV series “Skins” now faces an additional advertising setback.

The Wrigley Company has stopped advertising on the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It followed similar recent moves by Taco Bell and GM.

"Wrigley has decided to suspend any advertising during MTV's Skins as it was never our intent to endorse content that could offend consumers. Any ads that previously aired during the show were part of a broader advertising plan with the network,” said the company in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Skins,” which premiered last week, has generated publicity and controversy due to its depiction of teenagers in situations such as drugs and sex. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that executives at MTV told the show’s producers to moderate some of the content.

Nonprofit group the Parents Television Council had called "Skins" the “most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children.” In a statement released yesterday, the organization’s president, Tim Winter, lauded the Wrigley pull-out.

“We applaud Wrigley for making the responsible decision to separate its brand from a show that glorifies teen sex, teen drug use and teen alcohol abuse. At the end of the day, it is the flow of advertising dollars – or lack thereof – that decides which programs are delivered into the nation’s living rooms, and we thank Wrigley for making a socially responsible decision.

In the statement, the PTC said it was also planning to contact other companies, such as Subway and Footlocker, to stop advertising on “Skins.”

An adaptation of a British television series, “Skins” is described on the show’s Web site as “a wild ride through the lives of a group of high school friends stumbling through the mine field of adolescence... and stepping on most of the mines as they go.”


Selected Reading: The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, Parents Television Council, MTV “Skins” Web site, "MTV’s “Skins” Game"
 

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