• Ad Age, Thursday, May 11, 2006 11:45 AM

Two major marketers are being criticized for advertising on a show that a parent's watchdog group finds offensive. Fast food marketer McDonald's Corp., and office supply chain Staples have been singled out by the Parents Television Council for ads they ran on the NBC show "Medium," which the group says depicted graphic sexual violence. The PTC said an episode of the show showed scenes of a man having sex with a prostitute whose hands were tied to the bed, and then murdering the prostitute by smothering her with a pillow. "Without Staples' and McDonald's advertising dollars, programs like 'Medium' could not exist," PTC President L. Brent Bozell said in a statement. "By underwriting such graphic sexual content, these companies are violating parents' trust in their corporate brand and image. Both Staples and McDonald's have chosen not to take responsibility for where their ads have aired and for the content their advertising dollars are making possible." Staples said it "advertises with a variety of media outlets, but we do not necessarily share the same views of these organizations or their content. We will take their concerns into consideration in our ongoing advertising plans." The PTC said McDonald's told the group, "As an advertiser, our role is not to determine what broadcasters should or should not air. That decision belongs to the broadcaster and, ultimately, to the individual viewer."

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