Move over, Charles Dickens. The Parents Television Council has released its latest best and worst list for the 2005-2006 television season. The listees are advertisers, and the criteria is all about what PTC thinks of the programs they support. PTC President L. Brent Bozell said, "Corporate advertisers share accountability for the tide of graphic and gratuitous sex, violence and profanity on television today. With their advertising dollars, they can choose to underwrite family-friendly television programming or they can elect to sponsor programs filled with raunch. Responsible broadcasting is possible, and this responsibility not only falls on the entertainment industry, but also on the sponsors. And from what we continually hear from most big corporate sponsors is that a responsible advertising practice is good for their business." Exhorting advertisers to help keep certain programs off the air by denying them sustaining revenue, saying, "Regardless of indecency oversight by the FCC or each network's standards and practices department, the bottom line is the bottom line."
The top and bottom ten advertisers
BEST
1. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.
2. The Campbell Soup Company
3. The Walt Disney Company
4. Ford Motor Company
5. Cingular Wireless
6. Altria Group [Parent company of Kraft Foods, Post Cereals, Jell-O desserts, Maxwell House coffees, Oscar Mayer foods, Miracle Whip, DiGiorno, Stove Top Stuffing, Crystal Light drink mixes, Kool-Aid, Cool Whip, Minute Rice, Shake 'n Bake, Country Time drink mixes, Altoids]
7. DreamWorks
8. Schering-Plough Corp. [Products include: Claritin, Dr. Scholls, Nasonex]
9. Darden Restaurants, Inc. [Parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones BBQ]
10. Sears Holdings Corp.
WORST
1. General Motors Corp.
2. Toyota Motor Corp.
3. Volkswagen
4. DaimlerChrysler
5. Target Corp.
6. GlaxoSmithKline [Products include: Zyban, Valtrex, Flonase, Imitrex]
7. Nissan Motors
8. American Express Inc.
9. Apple Computers Inc.
10. Circuit City Stores
Source: Parents Television Council
