• by John Capone , March 17, 2009

There must be those out there for whom The Bad Girl's Club is not salacious enough a dose of reality television. For those lecherous souls, there's Playboy TV's slate of reality shows. You had no idea? Join the club.

Most people probably think Playboy TV is still an endless loop of Miss March in the shower and films used as "marital aids." And this is because the channel, which offers subscription and VOD options, has never staged a full-scale external effort to promote its programming. That changes in April with the "A Better Reality Awaits" campaign, aimed at hawking the uncensored reality shows "Search for the Perfect Girlfriend"; "Foursome: Season Three" (this is not about golf); "King of Clubs: Palomino," set in a Vegas strip club; and "69 Things to Do Before You Die," which is, of course, a travel show.

The cross-channel campaign by Toronto-based zig will comprise print, radio and online ads, but is anchored by two TV spots that are short spoofs of reality shows-- "Eligible", apes Bachelor-type competition shows and "Date", which takes aim at Blind Date's vintage pop-up balloons.

The parodies are followed by scenes from the Playboy TV shows and imply that their stars will go the Full Monty. The ads will be given to cable and satellite providers to air at their discretion. "Mainstream reality TV tries to be sexy but in the end, the best parts are either blurred, bleeped or blocked," says Gary Rosenson, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Playboy TV.

"With Playboy TV's reality television, no one gets eliminated, no one seeks immunity and the cameras never shut off--which makes Playboy TV far more interesting than the competition," adds Stephen Leps, creative director, zig Chicago. This logic is based on the assumption that audiences watching Rock of Love secretly hoped to catch a glimpse of one of the female suitor's sagging implants and not Brett Michael's piece. (And by piece we mean wig.)