PTC Tells 'Sexploitation' Story In Times Square Ad
- by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, August 21, 2013
TV watchdog group Parents Television Council has kicked off an outdoor ad campaign -- on one of the giant digital screens in New York’s Times Square -- to help expose what it sees as "sexploitation" of women in mainstream media.
The ad, purchased through agency ResourceOne/CDR, is part of the Council’s broader campaign called “4 Every Girl,” which is designed to highlight the “sexploitation” issue and rally consumers against the trend.
The ad in Times Square, which can be seen here, features copy that reads: “Unhealthy female stereotypes dominate the media we consume every day. And it’s hurting our girls. If you believe young girls should be valued for more than their looks, join us. 4 Every Girl.com.”
The Times Square ad will run for the next eight weeks, per the PTC.
In July the PTC issued research that studied 238 recent TV episodes and found that 63% of them “contained sexual content in scenes that were associated with females and 33% of the episodes contained sexual content that rose to the level of sexual exploitation.”
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In many cases the scenes are comedic in nature, per the research.
“The frequency with which viewers are able to watch and laugh at these sexually exploitative situations supports the notion that entertainment media is creating an environment that encourages and even facilitates the sexualization of women,” stated PTC President Tim Winter.
I read one of the reports, "Teen Sexual Exploitation," and while I wholeheartedly support the overall goal of positive gender portrayals, calling out "Law & Order: SVU" for this study is ridiculous. The premise of the show is about a real unit of the NYPD that tackles sex crimes and there is nothing laugh-provoking about the situations portrayed. I read the report because I wanted some examples since I don't watch a lot of TV, or at least the types of programs that I would assume are sexually exploitative of women. I didn't find particularly valid examples from that report. If this is a serious effort, then the offending shows should be called out on the site.