'Nip Tuck' advertisers in bull's-eye

Scene from "Nip Tuck": A group of people urinating on the television show's main character after beating him up.

Cut to: An ad for a sub sandwich.

Quizno's is being asked not to advertise on "Nip Tuck"

The Florida Family Association believes the first scene should not be on television, and doesn't want the company in the second scene to pay for it. Now it's put advertisers such as Quizno's in the bull's-eye for a campaign intended to cut advertising funding for shows portraying such behavior.

If successful, "the result is that companies are unwilling to spend their money on the program," association spokesman David Caton told WorldNetDaily.

"It's kind of a message for the market from the citizens who are basically saying, 'We don't want your ad dollars, which come from the products and services we buy from you, supporting that programming on television,'" he said.

The association has launched a new email campaign to target Quizno's, Western Union (First Data Corp.), Vonage, Sandals Resort, AutoWay, CarFax and the Bamboo Club, Caton said. They advertised on an Aug. 12 show episode, he said.

"Thanks to your emails sent in response to previous Florida Family Association campaigns and our faxes the following companies have stopped advertising during "Nip Tuck": Nissan North America, Home Depot, KIA Motors North America, Pizza Hut, Spring Nextel, Pennzoil, Jelmar, Volkswagen. …," the group confirmed.

However, the show's "explicit and irresponsible content continues to push the standard downward of what is tolerated on unrestricted advertiser supported television," the association said.

That Aug. 12 episode had the following, the association said: "Explicit, uncensored, repetitive use of the F-word. Grandmother Eric smoking pot with grandson Matt. Explicit sexual encounter. Matt's bizarre sexual encounter with a prep-op transvestite. Numerous people urinating on Matt after beating him up."

The Family Association, which has been monitoring television and tracking advertisers for 17 years, is asking its members and supporters to forward their objections via email to the advertisers.

"We are having an impact on the programs," Caton said, citing "Girls Next Door."

The advertising for that show in 2005 included the following from one of the actresses, Holly Madison, "I know Hef (Hugh Hefner) doesn't like it when I walk around naked in the house, 'cause he's a little more old-fashioned, sometimes, than people think. But you tend to forget you're naked when you've been shooting naked all day."

During the association's campaign against that show, set in a Playboy mansion, it influenced about 200 companies, Caton said.

"In our opinion, that was the most sexually graphic program aired," he said. It was on, then taken off, then edited and brought back, then taken off, he said.

The association's proposed sequence is simple. "To withdraw advertising -- it is sending its signal to those who would produce this kind of drivel and put it on the air," Caton said.

That makes the program less than a "slam-dunk profit making program."

Then production companies may have to underwrite the expenses using profits from other programming. And that makes the show a "losing venture."

He admits there always will be raunch on television, but it's like garbage: "Yeah, it's never going to go away, but if you allow it to grow it's going to get smellier."

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