By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, July 28, 2016
Parents Television Council, a non-profit group that promotes family-friendly programming, has successfully pressured dozens of advertisers to pull out of VH1's "Dating Naked."
The show, which is exactly what the title implies, currently co-stars Atlanta's own David Dees seeking love. (Read my interview before the season debuted.) It airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. and is given a 14+ rating, meaning 14 year olds can watch it.
To the PTC, that's appalling considering the show's cast members are all cavorting about nude - with heavy pixelation of their private parts.
"It's the epitome of what's wrong with the ratings system," said long-time PTC president Tim Winter. VH1 decided their own rating and the oversight board doesn't have any teeth. "The show is not what you want to teach 14 year olds how to have a relationship."
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The organization tracked 62 advertisers over five episodes in New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. Of those, PTC said 45 have requested VH1 not run their ads during "Dating Naked." He said advertisers were not told ahead of time their commercials would run on such a controversial show.
He admitted the show is already in its third season. Why didn't the PTC go after it season one in 2014? "I would say our shoulders are only so wide," he said. "We heard about it season one. Now we were able to plan and coordinate knowing season three was coming. If we're going to engage our membership. we have to be focused."
Here is the list PTC has publicly released. (Some companies asked not to be revealed.)
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Mondelez International
Firehouse Subs
Fandango
Companies that appear to have pulled out after being contacted by the PTC, but did not communicate with the group:
Credit Karma
IHG
ITT Tech
Edgewell
Terminix
Bloomin' Brands
Henkel
Samsung
Panera
Anheuser-Busch
Sprint
The last time PTC went after a show for sordid content was WE-TV's "Sex Box," which featured couples having sex in a box on a stage, then telling the crowd (once in robes) to talk about the experience. The show, which had poor ratings, only lasted three weeks in 2015. (I interviewed an Atlanta couple on the show last year.)
This trailer video of "Dating Naked" season three below features some of the aforementioned pixelation. If that offends you, well, you know what's coming:
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