Parents TV Council

The Idol is a 2023 US sexy TV drama
Starring The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp and Suzanna Son

Jocelyn is desperate to reclaim her rightful title as the greatest and sexiest pop diva in America after a nervous breakdown disrupted her most recent tour after Tedros, a notorious nightclub entrepreneur, reignites her passions.

The US moral campaign group have whinged:

In light of the news that The Idol's first season will only be five episodes (with hype suggesting that the promised 6th episode has been censored), the Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is calling on HBO not to renew The Idol for a second season, given the program's extreme content, nudity, sexual abuse, torture , that can be harmful to young viewers.

The PTC has called on HBO's streaming platform MAX to stop marketing The Idol to youth through social media, and to shore up wide gaps in its parental controls that enable youth to watch The Idol and other explicit TV-MA content like Euphoria.

The Idol has been rightfully panned by TV critics because each episode delves deeper into 'torture porn' and sexual abuse. Far from enlightening, the show has sunk into such depravity that even its niche audience has clearly turned against it, otherwise, why would HBO only air five of the expected six episodes? HBO should run far from this Sam Levinson-produced program that glamorizes and egregiously markets extreme sexual abuse to teens by refusing to renew it for a second season, said Melissa Henson, vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council.

Videos tagged with #theidol on TikTok have racked-up more than 1.2 BILLION views. There are more than 120 variations on that hashtag, adding up to millions more views.

TV critics have slammed The Idol, citing it as pornographic, a sordid male fantasy, a darker, crazier, and more risque version of HBO's Euphoria .

Little Demon is a 2022 US animation TV comedy
Starring Aubrey Plaza, Lucy DeVito and Danny DeVito

After being impregnated by the Devil, a reluctant mother and her Antichrist daughter attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware.

Parents TV Council is a US morality campaign group. The group is campaigning against the US TV cartoon satire, Little Demon. The group writes:

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that KFC bought advertising time on "Little Demon." You and many other like-minded parents and grandparents took action, calling on KFC to pull its ads. The next week there were no KFC ads at all.

But it looks like KFC (and its Yum! Brands corporate cousins Pizza Hut and Taco Bell ) reconsidered and determined that the content on "Little Demon" is within their corporate standards.

KFC was back again last week. Not only that, but other YUM! Brands -- Taco Bell and Pizza Hut -- also purchased advertising on Little Demon.

Somebody at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell made an affirmative decision that the content on Little Demon was within their standards. Keep in mind that the program content has included satanic imagery, full-frontal female nudity, dozens and dozens of F- and S-words, graphic gore and violence, occultism, recreational drug use, and more.

That means KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut have chosen to EMBRACE the dark, depraved worldview presented on Little Demon.

The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is warning parents about the new season of HBO's Euphoria, to be released on January 9, as it may contain content that is harmful to children. Media outlets have reported that the second season promises to be darker than the first season. PTC President Tim Winter said:

When the dark, depraved, degenerate and nihilistic program Euphoria first premiered, its creator, Sam Levinson, proudly proclaimed that there are going to be parents who are going to be totally fucking freaked out. His omen was correct, and unsurprisingly so because Euphoria centers on the lives of high school children, and features a Disney Channel starlet as the lead actress. Given the explicit content in the program's first season, we are issuing our strongest warning to parents about the premiere of the new season and its imminent threat to the health and well-being of children.

Just how explicit is this show? Content from just the first two episodes included the full-frontal nudity of more than 30 high-school-aged boys; an adult male putting a condom on his erect penis as he prepares to engage in anal sex with a teenager; the main female character -- a high school teenager -- offering to perform oral sex on an adult male; and more than 80 uses of the 'f-word,' as well as other obscenities.

The show frequently depicts characters, both teens and adults, engaged in sex, some scenes of which depict statutory rape; and it normalizes pornography and promotes underage drinking, smoking, drug use, among other dangerous behavior. AT&T/HBO have arrogantly claimed they have 'creative freedom' to show sexual violence involving children. And while Euphoria is rated TV-MA, suggesting it is intended only for mature audiences, the program has been marketed directly to children via social media, including instructions on how to view it on the HBO streaming app for free.

We urgently call on parents to take swift measures to protect their children from this extremely explicit program. And we implore AT&T/HBO to put a halt to Euphoria and other content that not only sexualizes children, but that sexually-exploits them, Winter said.

Parents Television Council is a US moralist campaign group. It writes:

The Parents Television Council called out Disney for allowing blatant sexual harassment to occur on ABC's The Bachelorette in its October 20th episode rated TV-PG. The male contestants on the show were forced to strip during a dodgeball game, with some contestants expressing clear discomfort.

PTC President Tim Winter said:

Asking television contestants to strip naked sounds like it would come at the direction of Harvey Weinstein, not from Walt Disney-owned ABC. Such programming is outrageously tone-deaf, especially as Hollywood continues its reckoning in the #MeToo era. If anyone in a position of authority in corporate America asked his/her employees to strip in order to keep their jobs, the executive would be fired. But Disney not only enables The Bachelorette to do just that, it promotes the show, rates the program as appropriate for young children (TV-PG), and ostensibly encourages -- and even celebrates -- blatant sexual harassment.

Disney's corporate schizophrenia is astonishing. While it adds warning slates in front of its classic movies about culturally insensitive content, the company is more than comfortable fostering sexually exploitative content without any such consideration. We call on Disney and the producers behind The Bachelorette immediately to cease this -- and any other demonstration -- of sexual harassment, and to stop asking audiences to be entertained by it.

The Parents Television Council has issued an urgent warning to parents ahead of the premiere of HBO's teen-targeted show Euphoria. PTC President Tim Winter said:

Just as MTV did with Skins and as Netflix is doing with 13 Reasons Why , HBO, with its new high school centered show Euphoria , appears to be overtly, intentionally, marketing extremely graphic adult content -- sex, violence, profanity and drug use -- to teens and preteens.

HBO might attach a content rating suggesting that it is intended for mature audiences, but let's be real here: who watches a show about high school children, except high school and junior high school-aged children?

While HBO is a premium cable network, parents who are HBO subscribers may be blindsided by HBO's new attempt to market such explicit content directly to minors. And the parental blindside is greatly exacerbated by ubiquitous streaming apps that deliver such explicit content directly to a teen's phone or computer screen. Parents urgently need to be aware of HBO's grossly irresponsible programming decision.

An era of adult television has come to an and, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times , which reported that the Time-Warner owned, pay cable network HBO has spent the summer, quietly and without fanfare, removing its once-prodigious library of erotic documentaries and entertainment programs from the network and the HBO streaming platforms, HBO Go and HBO Now.

Since the 1990s, HBO has produced and broadcast such series as the influential Real Sex , the Las Vegas brothel reality series Cathouse , and recurring instructional sex specials hosted by adult performer Katie Morgan.

But HBO has not produced new adult late night programs for several years, and now the network will no longer offer repeats or archived shows from its adult category either.

While HBO's new owner, the telecom giant AT&T, informed HBO employees earlier this year that it planned big changes for the network, the elimination of HBO's erotic fare, network execs told the Times , was not mandated by AT&T and in fact began well before the telecom conglomerate took over. The reason that HBO is ditching their late night lineup, according to what one spokesperson told the Times , is simply that HBO viewers have lost interest, most likely due to the proliferation of adult content online.

Update: Never enough

3rd September 2018. See article from w2.parentstv.org

US moralists always want more. The Parents Television Council writes:

The Parents Television Council applauds HBO and its corporate parent, AT&T, for removing the pornographic content from its platform -- but urges AT&T to make the same move by removing X-rated pornographic content from DirecTV. PTC President Tim Winter whinged:

AT&T's HBO made a wise decision to remove pornographic content, even citing that 'there wasn't strong demand for this kind of adult programming.' While that is a huge positive step forward, the same logic should also extend to AT&T-owned DirecTV, which still offers hardcore pornographic content to subscribers.

How can a company that says it is built on responsibility continue to deliver and profit from pornography? How much does DirecTV porn really increase the earnings per share? Is this a reasonable tradeoff for a so-called responsible company?

Given that AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson was the 36th National President of the Boy Scouts, it's hard to reconcile that role with the DirecTV pornographic lineup. Are the explicit pornographic titles on DirecTV about grandmothers, mothers, or stepsisters what he wants his scouts to be thinking of?

Moralist TV campaigners at Parents TV Council have praised a new TV comedy, The Mick . The PTC writes:

The Parents Television Council is urging its members and the public to tell Verizon to stop underwriting graphic content on Fox's new TV show, The Mick, which disturbingly features minor children using explicit language and put into sexualized situations. Ads for Verizon FiOS and Pixel were aired on The Mick.

In the show, teens are shown smoking, drinking, and swearing, as their alcoholic, drug-using aunt does nothing to set boundaries or stop them. A six- or seven-year-old boy accidentally ingests a balloon filled with drugs; a teenage girl has sex with an adult man and engages in a drinking contest with her legal guardian, among other egregious examples.

PTC President Tim Winter. said:

Verizon should refuse to be associated with such destructive and harmful TV content on 'The Mick.' Apparently the show's producers and network executives believe such disturbing content is appropriate for the public airwaves, even at times when children are likely to be watching. Verizon must choose whether it will invest its media dollars to underwrite such content. Child characters should not be used for 'shock value,' and supporting a show that makes children participants in that kind of vulgarity directly calls into question Verizon's corporate standards

The PTC recently documented that broadcast TV shows are more frequently using children to say explicit language and put them in adult situations, a trend that The Mick continues.

The US morality campaign group, Parents Television Council, has had a whinge at a new VH1 series, Dating Naked. Of course viewers never get to see anybody naked, only pixellisation.

The Parents TV Council is attacking the show via its advertisers and write:

The Parents Television Council is urging its members and the public to contact Samsung and Sprint to reconsider advertising support for a sexually-explicit dating show that's rated for children as young as 14.

Both companies sponsored the first two episodes of VH1's Dating Naked, a reality show in which the contestants are completely naked all the time. VH1 rated the episode TV-14, meaning that VH1 execs believe that it is acceptable for 14-year-olds to watch. PTC President Tim Winter said:

Most parents would be shocked to find their young teenagers watching this sexually-explicit nude dating show. But VH1, in all its wisdom, believes this kind of content is appropriate for middle school and high school aged children. Samsung and Sprint must agree, given their ad buys on the first two episodes and despite our warnings about the content ahead of time. Surely, parents will take pause at these companies for sponsoring 'Dating Naked,' and at VH1 for marketing this nude reality show to their children.

Most of the sponsors from last week's episode chose not to return this week, and for that we are grateful. But companies like Samsung and Sprint chose to align their corporate brands with the loathsome content on Dating Naked. Teen-targeted explicit programming would not exist but for corporate sponsors that support them with their ad dollars. As such, we are urging our members and public to contact these companies to express their concerns.

Later Parents Television Council scored a further wind when advertisers pulled out. Mondelez, Hhgregg and Henkel told VH1 to stop running their ads during the reality show.

Mondelez said in an email to the PTC

We have specific guidelines in place to help steward our media spend, which should prevent our ads from appearing in this type of programming Mondeleez International did not purchase this program specifically and has not previously aired ads on the program. In keeping with our policy, we have directed our media partner to ensure that we do not run advertising for any of our brands on this program in the future.

Out of an abundance of caution, we have also requested a programming schedule for rotation buys to ensure that the specific programs are acceptable to Mondeleez International.

Hhgregg chipped:

Our buying guidelines are very specific in terms of program content, precluding the inclusion of shows that feature the kind of gratuitous sexuality in 'Dating Naked.' Unfortunately, errors do occasionally occur and our spot mistakenly ran within the program. We have informed VH1 that this program, and all similar programming on their network, is to be specifically eliminated from all current and future hhgregg television buys.

In a new campaign article analyzing the past 20 years of the TV Content Ratings System, the Parents Television Council has found widespread, systemic problems that render the system inadequate for protecting children from graphic sex, violence, and profanity on television. PTC President Tim Winter spouted:

Parents who rely on the TV Content Ratings System to make informed decisions about what to watch on television have been deceived, as our new research shows that the ratings system has systemically failed to provide accurate and consistent information for its entire 20-year existence.

The campaign group claimed:

• Regularly-scheduled series rated TV-G (appropriate for all audiences) have been eliminated from prime time. In all practicality, family shows rated for all audiences do not exist;
• There are fewer programs on prime time broadcast television rated TV-PG;
• There are fewer differences between the content of programs rated TV-PG and those rated TV-14;
• Graphic content on television is increasing in both amount and intensity; yet
• Every hour of content on broadcast television is rated as appropriate for a 14-year-old child, or even younger ages. Despite containing explicit content, no continuing program on broadcast television is rated TV-MA, appropriate for mature audiences only.

Winter said:

The implications in our report are enormous and should give the TV industry significant pause. The industry should have to answer as to why TV-G rated primetime series are extinct; why the lines between TV-PG and TV-14 shows are blurred; why more adult content is being shown on TV-PG shows; why nudity and violence are increasing on broadcast TV overall.

One reason for the problem is that the TV networks rate their own shows, creating an inherent conflict of interest. You don't see any TV-MA rated (the highest adult TV rating) shows on broadcast TV. It's not that some of the shows don't warrant the MA rating, it's that the networks are financially motivated not to rate programs properly because most corporate sponsors won't advertise on MA-rated programs.

Another conflict of interest is that the TV networks run the board that oversees the ratings process. That board, the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, has enabled and sheltered this flawed ratings system rather than follow its FCC-sanctioned mandate to monitor the system and improve upon it where necessary. For years, we have addressed our concerns to the Board but to no real avail.

The Parents Television Council, a US morality campaign group is warning families about the violent content in a new TV miniseries, Of Kings and Prophets airing on ABC.

The PTC's review indicated that the first episode contains a number of battles with swords, knives, spears, and other graphically violent content that ranges between the type of violent content found in The Lord of the Rings movies and 300 . There is some mild sexual content in the first episode. As such, the PTC cannot recommend this show for children. PTC President Tim Winter said:

Despite the fact that the miniseries is based on a book that most families in America have at home -- that book being the Bible -- parents should be forewarned that Of Kings and Prophets will not be appropriate for family viewing. While we are grateful that the show runner, Chris Brancato, personally invited us to preview the first episode, it remains difficult for us to recommend this show to families given the graphic content. And given Mr. Brancato said that he'll be ' fighting with broadcast standards and practices ' and that ' we're going to go as far as we can' throughout the series, there's likely to be even more explicit content in upcoming episodes

The real question here is, why wouldn't ABC and the show's producers want to reach the largest audience possible by making a series, based on the Bible, able to be viewed by families? Instead it appears that their primary objective was to be edgy and explicit, rather than to entertain with a biblical story. And in so doing, they're carving away a large percentage of their potential market. This further demonstrates a disconnect between what the entertainment industry wants to produce and what family audiences want to consume.

We hope that families will be forewarned about the content of this show and not mistakenly watch with their children. No doubt the network will rate the program TV-14, suggesting to parents that the material is appropriate for children as young as fourteen.

Update: Cancelled

21st March 2016. See article from w2.parentstv.org

The Parents Television Council responded to the news that ABC cancelled Of Kings and Prophets after only two episodes aired:

The only reason networks cancel a show without burning off the remaining episodes is that there is no advertiser support. The dollars simply aren't there, and it is more economical for them to air something else entirely -- despite the fact that they've paid for those unaired episodes. And based on the conversations we've had over the past few days with several of the most premiere sponsors in the country -- during which we questioned their underwriting such over-the-top graphic violence in 'Of Kings and Prophets,' it was clear that advertiser support for the show was quickly evaporating. While we applaud ABC's cancellation of the show, we can't help but wonder why they would choose to air it in the first place.

The Parents Television Council announced the companies that it chose for its annual Best/Worst Advertisers List. The Best companies on this list have demonstrated willingness to support positive TV programming including TV shows that routinely feature sex, violence, and profanity, and have not responded to moralist calls to reevaluate their sponsorship behavior.

Some of those shows include: Family Guy , which over the past year has featured 'jokes' about sexually assaulting children; Wicked City , a serial killer-focused drama that routinely shows graphic violence and sex; Scream Queens , which shows graphic gore akin to R-rated horror movies.

PTC asks Americans to use this list as they begin their holiday shopping, to reward the good ones and avoid the bad ones.

INDUSTRY	Worst miserable gits	Best fun filled sponsors
Computers/Software	Google	Microsoft
Candy	Nestle; Mondelez International (Trident, Dentyne, Bubblicious, Toblerone)	Mars; Wrigley
Pharmaceutical	Sanofi; Johnson & Johnson	Bayer; Merck
Consumer Brands	P&G (Cover Girl, Luvs, Swiffer, Bounty, Tide, Crest, Pampers, Olay, Duracell, Gillette, Always, NyQuil)	Unilever (Dove, Axe, Lipton, Suave, Vaseline, Hellmann's)
Beverages	Coca Cola	Red Bull
Fast Food	Wendy's; Dunkin' Brands	McDonald's; Burger King; Yum!
Insurance	Prudential	Nationwide
Office Supply	Office Depot	Staples
Jewelry/Retail	Helzberg Diamonds	Kay Jewelers
Clothing/Retail	TJX (Marshalls, Home Goods, TJ Maxx)	L Brands (Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, La Senza)
General Retail	Sears; Walmart	Target; Best Buy

The US morality campaign group, The Parents Television Council, writes:

The Parents Television Council (PTC) is urging McDonald's to reconsider sponsoring Fox Broadcasting's new series, Scream Queens , which has featured graphic gore and sexual content that would typically be seen in R-rated movies, and that airs as early as 7 pm in half of the country. McDonald's ads have appeared on the first four episodes of the new TV show.

The PTC's review of Scream Queens said, Parents are warned: mean-spirited, sexualized, gory horror show is unsafe for children of any age. Content in the show has included a character's face being fried in hot cooking fat; another character is sprayed with hydrochloric acid, with close-ups showing her bloody skin burning and melting off; several young sorority pledges are buried in the ground up to their necks while the Devil drives over their heads on a riding mower. The episode that aired on October 6 th featured a discussion about necrophilia.

PTC President Tim Winter said:

The Golden Arches brand now stands for sexual fantasies with dead people and with decapitating college coeds. No wonder McDonald's is having problems attracting families, when millions of the company's media dollars underwrite such content on Scream Queens early in the evening on primetime broadcast TV.

Not only is McDonald's financing a toxic media culture, they are hurting their own pocketbooks. We urge McDonald's to do well and to do good at the same time, by changing course and recognizing what scientific research has already proven to be true -- that advertising on TV shows with explicit content can truly be bad for business.

One such study is from the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and suggests that programs with high levels of violent or sexual content can actually repress the viewers' ability to recall advertised brands. By contrast, subjects who watched 'neutral' programming were better able to recall the ads the following day.

Nevertheless, and amid falling sales, McDonald's corporate marketing team has continued to compromise its image and reputation as a family-friendly fast-food destination with poor sponsorship decisions; and those sponsorship decisions are hurting the McDonald's brand, hurting McDonald's reputation with families, and hurting their franchisees.

It's time for McDonald's to stop sponsoring offensive and harmful TV content, especially early in primetime when the content is so easily accessible to kids.

The Parents Television Council has released its annual list of Best TV Advertisers , which catalogues companies based on the television content they chose to underwrite with their media dollars over the past year. PTC President Tim Winter explained:

As we approach the Christmas and holiday shopping season, we present this list of 'Best and Worst TV Advertisers' so that consumers can vote with their wallet and reward those companies that have clearly demonstrated a commitment to responsible sponsorship practices. Our list also identifies those companies that have shown little or no regard for the explicit content that their media dollars helped to underwrite.

What people see on TV is influential. TV advertisers certainly know it to be true, otherwise they would not have spent $86 billion last year just on U.S. television. The sole purchase of spending each dollar was to convince Americans to buy their goods and services. The ability to influence children does not stop once the commercial break is over and the program begins.

We applaud those companies that are on our 'best' list, as they have shown a willingness to evaluate and adjust their ad buys in order to take into consideration the concerns of parents about the quality and content of programming that's accessible to children.

At the same time, we urge those companies on our 'worst' list to re-evaluate their ad buys on TV shows that routinely feature graphic sex, violence, and profanity, and that have the potential to permanently lower standards for TV content across the board. It's time for companies to consider the impact on children and families that comes from their day-to-day business decision-making.

So congratulations to the advertisers that have most wound up the PTC:

CATEGORY	Worst Advertisers
Fast Food Restaurants	Burger King Yum! Brands: KFC, Taco Bell
Beverages	Red Bull
Clothing Retail	Gap, Inc.: The Gap, Old Navy
General Retail	Target
Personal Items	Johnson & Johnson: Aveeno, Visine, Splenda, Listerine, Clean & Clear Unilever: Dove, Axe, Lipton, Suave, Vaseline, Hellmann's
Grocery	Mondelez International, Inc.: Trident, Wheat Thins, Sour Patch Kids, Tang, Ritz, Oreo, Nabisco Kellogg's: PopTarts, Eggo, Nestlé: Gerber, Coffee Mate, Friskies, Purina, Hot Pockets, Stouffer's
Computer Hardware/Software	Microsoft
Financial Services/Software	H&R Block

The Parents Television Council is denouncing the FX network for airing the most sexually explicit content the PTC has ever documented on basic cable. The November 11th episode of Sons of Anarchy opened with approximately two and one-half minutes of graphically depicted sex among several couples. The explicit content, of the type previously available only on a la carte premium networks or pay-per-view, aired as early as 9 pm in half of the country.

Media Post described this scene like this :

This sequence ... featured seven couples in the act of intense lovemaking. ... For the record, this sequence left nothing to the imagination. It was probably the rawest sex I have ever seen depicted on TV outside of HBO and Showtime -- and that's saying a lot.

PTC President Tim Winter spouted:

Last week's episode of 'Sons of Anarchy' opened with the most sexually explicit content we've ever seen on basic cable, content normally found on premium subscription networks like HBO or Showtime.

A joint episode of The Simpsons and Family Guy is set to air on the Fox network in the US on Sunday. The trailer has revealed a joke featuring the politically correct no-no, the word 'rape'. It has got America's moralists up in arms. The Parents Television Council have called for the joke to be cut.

The gag is about baby Stewie misunderstanding the nature of Bart's prank calls. First, Bart calls Moe's Tavern and asks if there's anyone there with the last name Keybum and the first name Lee -- causing the bartender to call out for a Leaky bum . Then an excited Stewie tries his version of the wind-up, and blurts out: Hello, Moe? Your sister's being raped.

The Parents Television Council have claim that the joke, playing on the different sense of humour between the family-friendly Simpsons and edgier Family Guy, is 'inappropriate'. President Tim Winter spouted:

Rape is never a laughing matter. Never. It is simply indefensible for a broadcaster to use the publicly-owned airwaves to make tasteless and senseless jokes about rape.

He also claimed that the joke could have a devastating impact... on countless past, present and future victims of sexual assault . The group says it will lobby advertisers on both shows to ask if rape jokes reflect their corporate values .

MacFarlane famously once said that getting Parents Television Council complaints were:

Like getting hate mail from Hitler. They're literally terrible human beings. I've read their newsletter, I've visited their website, and they're just rotten to the core. For an organisation that prides itself on Christian values -- I mean, I'm an atheist, so what do I know?--they spend their entire day hating people. They can all suck my dick as far as I'm concerned.

The Parents Television Council is calling on its members to file indecency complaints over an episode of Fox Broadcasting's Dads , which featured an implied depiction of and references to semen, and references to masturbation. The episode was rated TV-14 and aired at 8 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central on January 14.

The following are the sexual scenes that were featured in this episode:

• Veronica: You don't have a caring bone in your body.
  Eli: Yes, I do. My bone cared for her twice last night. And a bendy third time.
  
• Warner uses a UV light to disinfect Veronica's desk.
  Warner: These things are amazing. It even lights up semen.
  Warner's dad enters, waving "Hi" to everyone. The UV light picks up traces of semen, presumably, on his hand.
  
• Camila tries to watch television with David and Crawford nearby.
  Camila: What about that show "Girls"?
  David: Hey, I'm trying to get erections, not lose them.

PTC President Tim Winter said:

We are urging members of the public to file a formal FCC indecency complaint over this episode of 'Dads.

Parents who have been told repeatedly by the entertainment industry to rely on the TV content ratings system have been fooled once again given this episode's very low TV-14 rating. How is a semen scene appropriate for 14-year-old children?

If parents can't rely on the television ratings system to give them accurate and consistent information about the programs their families might be watching, then the system is worthless -- serving only to give the networks cover as they continue to push the limits of what is deemed acceptable for the broadcast medium.

We urge the FCC to investigate this 'Dads' episode on behalf of families across the nation.

The Parents Television Council has released its annual Best TV Advertisers List which focuses on companies that sponsor the least family-friendly TV programming.

PTC President Tim Winter explained:

This year's analysis should provide greater clarity for those members of the public who wish to 'vote with their wallets'.

We base this list purely on the sponsorship behavior we see from these companies.

We encourage the public to use this list when they're shopping.

The list is based on each company's prime time broadcast television ad buys during the 2012-2013 television season. Using the PTC's trademarked traffic light ratings system, each company was assigned a point value based on the number of green, yellow and red light shows it sponsored.

And the best advertisers of 2013 are:

Automotive Honda BANKS Wells Fargo Bank of America Restaurants McDonalds Subway Taco Bell TGI Friday's Red Robin BEVERAGES Welch's Lipton Tea Nespresso Diet Pepsi Dr. Pepper

General Retail JC Penney Kohl's Macy's Target Old Navy/Gap Burlington Coat Factory PERSONAL ITEMS/GROCERIES Quilted Northern Brawny Aquafresh Listerine Maybelline L'Oreal WIRELESS PROVIDER AT&T Verizon

The Parents Television Council has issued a whinge in response to MTV's Video Music Awards. PTC Director of Public Policy Dan Isett enthused:

MTV has once again succeeded in marketing sexually charged messages to young children using former child stars and condom commercials -- while falsely rating this program as appropriate for kids as young as 14. This is unacceptable.

This much is absolutely clear: MTV marketed adults-only material to children while falsely manipulating the content rating to make parents think the content was safe for their children.

MTV continues to sexually exploit young women by promoting acts that incorporate 'twerking' in a nude-colored bikini. How is this image of former child star Miley Cyrus appropriate for 14-year-olds?

How is it appropriate for children to watch Lady Gaga strip down to a bikini in the opening act?

How is it appropriate for 14-year-olds to see a condom commercial and a promo for an R-rated movie during the first commercial break?

PTC Advisory Board Member and former BET Executive Paul Porter said:

The Miley Cyrus/Robin Thicke performance simply substituted talent with sex. Viacom has a set of corporate broadcast standards that were obviously broken in this case for financial gain. While the performance was shocking to the audience, MTV approved it during the show run prior to the broadcast. Heads should roll at MTV.

Offsite Comment: Daily Mail Outrage

28th August 2013. See article from mediasnoops2.wordpress.com . Thanks to Dan

Mail Hack Outraged Over Miley Cyrus' Display Complete With Pics In All Their Raunchy Innocent Children Corrupting Glory

...See the full article

...And if you want to see the naughtiness in all its glory, the Daily Mail is more than happy to oblige, see article from dailymail.co.uk