The Parents Television Council says seven companies have pulled their ads from the second episode of The Playboy Club — and they’re calling on Capital One, Samsung and Chrysler to follow their lead.
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Citing the show’s ratings, the group’s president Tim Winter says, “What has been clear to everyone outside of NBC must now be clear even to those inside NBC: The Playboy Club is a commercial disaster and must be removed from the airwaves. We call for the network to cancel this degrading and sexualizing program immediately.”
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Kraft, Sprint, Lenovo, UPS Store, Subway, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Campbell’s Soup did not advertise in the second episode on Monday.
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The premiere was soft with 5 million viewers and just a 1.6 rating in the ad-coveted 18-49 demo. It sunk 19 percent in its second week, with just 3.8 million viewers and a 1.3 in the key demo.
The PTC has targeted the show for objectifying and degrading women since it was picked up by NBC.
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It vows to continue to ask members to contact advertisers “until they cease sponsorship of a broadcast television program that is mainstreaming the pornography industry.”
“As a licensee of the public airwaves, NBC has breached the public trust by airing what amounts to a weekly advertisement for a pornographic brand. As demonstrated by the Nielsen ratings for The Playboy Club the past two weeks, any further airing of the show not only pushes an anti-family agenda, but is a profoundly bad business decision,” added Winter.
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“Until the program is removed from the public airwaves, PTC will be calling on its members and other concerned citizens to contact the sponsors. Today, we ask Capital One, Chrysler and Samsung if their corporate values are in step with those of the Playboy brand,” Winter went on.
Showrunner Chad Hodge downplayed the controversy after Gloria Steinem called for a boycott and NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate refused to air it.
“I think there’s a perception of the show that’s false,” he said. “There are different brands of feminism and I don’t think it should be boxed into any one version”
“I think there was a perception that we were trying to do something politically ambitious or make a statement or make this a show about empowering women, which sounds super boring to me. That sounds like a documentary, which this certainly is not. This is more like Chicago, Moulin Rouge and All That Jazz, Desperate Housewives. This is a fun, sexy soap,” he added.
