Parents Television Council says that Fox Sunday night offering Family Guy featured particularly offensive material recently, and that Dodge prominently advertised its Dart on the program. It’s encouraging its members to register their displeasure with Dodge.
PTC says that the episode features a 15-year-old girl having sex with a dog, and that Dodge knew was aware of the content of the program and knew “exactly what it was doing” in actively sponsoring it.
PTC has a click-and-send message for its supporters to send to Dodge. It concludes, “I urge you to use your unique position of influence to advocate for less offensive content, for more suitable content, otherwise your continued support can only be viewed as an endorsement of this offensive, degrading content. You have a choice when deciding where to spend your ad dollars, just as I have a choice when deciding where to spend my hard-earned money, and I will weigh advertising behavior when making my next car purchase.”
Common Sense is another television-watching organization that looks out for the interests of children. Here’s what it has to say about the program in general: “Parents need to know that Family Guy is very funny; the quirky scenarios can induce giggles or even guffaws in grown-ups. But Seth MacFarlane’s show isn’t meant to be watched by kids or young teens. Unpredictable is the name of the game in the town of Quahog, Rhode Island, where the Griffin family spends most of its time watching television and getting into trouble. The dog, Brian, and the infant, Stewie, are the most intelligent members of the family — which might set off a few alarm bells in terms of inappropriate role modeling. Expect frequent sexual innuendo and salty language (of the ‘bitch’ and ‘damn’ variety), as well as some drinking and violence played for humor.”
RBR-TVBR observation: We have to wonder, if the program is as horrible as PTC says, why they are sending emails to Dodge and not the FCC. Showing someone having sex with a dog under any circumstances would certainly be enough to bring the FCC into the picture with its indecency enforcement guns blazing.
But PTC isn’t doing that, even though they have a history of doing so in the past. So PTC must realize there is nothing to protest.
We poked around the internet for a bit, and could not seem to find any other expressions of outrage about the Family Guy November 11 episode, at least not on this count. It would appear that this is just another example of PTC hyperbole.
Perhaps PTC should send out a message to its members: Your television comes equipped with a device that can change the channel. Use it!
