Who's Paying For the Filth? It Ain't Free

by Jason Bonham

Let’s look at the term advertising:

1. to announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or use it.

It’s an interesting quote. When you think of corporate advertising on TV, the average viewer will easily tell when the program has switched to an advertisement selling a product. Most change the channel. But few change the channel when the advertising is not for a product in the form of a commercial, but rather it’s the show peddling a lifestyle.

Many would argue that behavior is not influenced by the media we inhale. Yet for some reason, we still have advertising agencies raking in millions and billions for using media to influence our purchasing behavior. Don’t be fooled, if we can be sold a product with a bad actor on the floor who can’t get up, surely we can be sold more by handsome actors with an hour long story line.

A great example would be Western movies of the 50’s and 60’s. America was sold the mystique of the Western Cowboy, trademarked by his honesty and integrity. And people bought it, for good reason too. While probably few people went out and purchased 10 gallon white cowboy hats, it would be safe to assume more than a few had there values of honesty and integrity cemented by these value soaked films. The logic would follow that controversial lifestyles and practices can be easily sold to an unsuspecting targeted marketing group. To say that a regularly watched program can’t begin to influence your thinking is a pathetic slap in the face to those who studied marketing in grad school.

We hope that most adults are some how cognizant and capable to make correct decisions, despite the choices peddled as acceptable in a movie. Yet I doubt very few of us look at our 12 year old kid and give him the same benefit of the doubt. A 12 year is constantly bombarded by advertising. His peers, his parents, TV, The Internet, radio, music and so many other types of media and associations are bombarding the average teen with thoughts and ideas. Yet we hope our own child is somehow smart enough to take away from this mass of information what is good and true, and what fails under scrutiny.

Toyota views things differently.

Toyota was rated the “worst” corporate sponsor of objectionable TV shows through it’s advertising by the Media watchdog group ParentsTV.org

Toyota’s response?

"Traditionally, shows we advertise on are aimed at people 18 and older. We're marketing to a more mature audience." link

Apparently “marketing to a mature audience” means paying for cartoons (AKA  advertising) that are on at 8:30 cst Sunday evenings and contain such topics as handing over your daughter to your perverted boss so you can get a promotion.

There comes a point when a company must realize that its efforts and monies is a source of financial funding for media that spews filth. After all, TV shows like American Dad are not made pro-bono, the makers want money to air the dirt. As it appears for now, Toyota and GM are happy to be a source of funding. I guess for them it’s all about being "mature."