Advertisers Wimping Out

Well, unlike me, the advertisers are taking it seriously. They are, ofcourse, blaming the pull-out on the "tastelessness" of the racial division ploy, but from my angle that sounds like a crock of hooey. Advertisers do not pull out for any other reason than fear of lost revenue due to boycotts by the public. Here's the article.

By Robert P. Laurence
UNION-TRIBUNE TELEVISION CRITIC
September 11, 2006


'All publicity is good publicity,” goes the old showbiz saw.

CBS and Mark Burnett, executive producer of “Survivor,” are finding that it ain't necessarily so.

Their decision to divide up the teams in “Survivor: Cook Islands” according to race hasn't just stirred up a hornet's nest of criticism, it's costing money. Several long-standing advertisers will have deserted the island when the “Survivor” hits the air Thursday (8 p.m. on KFMB/Channel 8).

The trade magazine Advertising Age reports that a half-dozen major advertisers – General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Campbell Soup – have pulled some $26 million in commercials. “The more I think about it, the more I wouldn't want to be involved in it,” one ad exec told Ad Age. “It's in bad taste.”

Of course, accusations of bad taste are nothing new for the program that pioneered the eating of maggots as a form of mass entertainment.

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But the decision to divide the 20 contestants in “Survivor” into four teams – white, black, Latino, Asian – does seem calculated to appeal to the basest aspects of human nature.
Of course, you don't have to root for the contestants according to race. You could cheer for the guy from your hometown. The San Diegan hoping to be the last survivor in “Survivor” will be Adam Gentry, a 28-year-old copier salesman.