"South Park" leads the pack of basic cable shows bringing a new level of raunchiness and violence to television, according to a watchdog group's new study. The rate of sexual references, profanity and violence in primetime cable series was found to be more than double that of broadcast television, the Parents Television Council said Monday. "Hollywood's push-the-primetime-envelope mindset, it seems, has become established in the cable business," the council said in its study. "South Park," an animated show on Comedy Central, was overall the most "offensive series," the study said, with a per-hour combined average of 126 violent or raunchy moments. The MTV shows "Undergrads" and "Celebrity Deathmatch" were next with, respectively, 73 and 66 such references. "Undergrads," an animated series not on the current MTV schedule, had the most sexual material with a per-hour average of 28.4 references, according to the nonprofit council's first study of cable content. The combined average for all shows was 21.7, while the combined average found in the council's latest study of broadcast network programming (for fall 1999) was 9.8. The study examined 33 series, for a total of nearly 112 hours, that were shown between last April and September. The council focused on basic cable, which reaches about three-quarters of U.S. households, rather than less widely distributed premium services such as HBO or Showtime. Responding to the report, a Comedy Central spokesman contended the council failed to "provide context." Comedy Central "is not designed for kids. It's designed for adults," said spokesman Tony Fox. "Eighty percent of our audience is 18 or older." He noted that "South Park" was at the top of the council's list because of an episode that used the same four-letter word 162 times as part of a satirical commentary on profanity. "That episode had something to say beyond the gratuitous use of swear words," Fox said. A call to MTV seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday. - The Associated Press
After Sept. 11, travel was the advertising category that took the biggest tumble, with people afraid to fly and eager to stay in the comforts of home. But it's rebounding now, as evidenced by new campaigns, largely from regional travel associations. The biggest campaign, from the Travel Industry Association of America, featured a television commercial by President Bush that was part of a recovery campaign that began with newspaper ads in eight markets. It was supported by $15 million raised by the Host Marriott Corp. and its supporters, who hired McCann-Erickson to create the advertising and make a $10 million TV buy for a four week run, according to Betsy O'Rourke, TIA's vice president of marketing. While the TIA campaign started late last year, there are a number of new campaigns this year that suggest the recovery is really underway. A multi-media campaign launches Feb. 10 for the Pacific Asia Travel Association, which seeks U.S. travelers. The backbone of the campaign is a 16-page newspaper insert that drops that day in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. The insert, with a "See you in Pacific Asia" theme, carries advertising from PATA members, including individual countries ("Amazing Thailand"), airlines (Malaysia Airlines), hotels (Hotel InterContinental Hong Kong) and MasterCard, the credit card sponsor. Another newspaper piece will run in September, according to Paul Cohen, vice president of travel and hospitality marketing for Enten & Associates/Bethesda, MD, the agency handling the account. "It was originally scheduled for November, but we made a decision to hold it back until February," he says. "People weren't in a traveling mood in November and the last place they wanted to travel was Asia, so we postponed it. The budget hasn't changed since Sept. 11 and plans for next year have increased." The campaign also calls for consumer and trade magazines, with full-page ads in National Geographic Traveler, Travel Holiday, USA Today and two travel agent magazines. A direct mail campaign will be run by MasterCard, which will send a billing insert co-sponsored by Asia airlines and hotels. An online portion of the campaign includes links to video infomercials from PATA members and opt-in rich media email that goes out up to five times a month. Bill Hastings, PATA's managing director, says the co-op program works well because it brings in money from 41 national governments and 2,000 companies to support the campaign. "Reaching the U.S. market can be very expensive with media buys in large fragmented markets, so the co-op program in key markets is a good approach," he says. The European Travel Commission and the Caribbean Tourism Organization are also running co-op programs this year. Neil Martin, a partner at Donald N. Martin & Co., an agency that represents the ETC, says European travel "dropped like a rock" after September 11, with bookings down as much as 50%. A newspaper supplement ran last fall, because it was already scheduled. Now the organization is planning a campaign for March to promote spring and summer travel, the most popular times to go to Europe. Spot TV, newspaper supplements and radio will be used, Martin says, although details haven't been worked out yet. "They put in for the campaign and we put together the media plan and the creative and raise funds from the industry," he says. He notes that some countries are more eager to spend than others. Spain, Ireland, Britain, Switzerland, Turkey, Greece and France are the leaders, he says. A campaign for the CTO is stalled because of budget matters, according to Michael Youngman, the CTO's director of marketing. "A number of governments have made commitments and the private sector has raised some money, but we're not there yet," he says, indicating a $16 million TV campaign will eventually run. "We're trying to get it off the ground by March." He says Sept. 11 "galvanized the countries to come back and make a commitment." Independent countries like Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Aruba increased their spending after Sept. 11. "They need to get business flowing again."
Representatives of GoldenPalace.com, an online casino that has hired high-profile boxers to wear temporary tattoos as a form of advertising, are scheduled to appear before the Nevada Athletic Commission today in Las Vegas in an effort to keep the commission from banning such ads. GoldenPalace.com has pioneered this practice, partnering with boxers like Leonard Dorin and middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, both of whom agreed to wear temporary Henna tattoos in recent bouts. The Nevada Athletic Commission has scheduled a hearing for sometime between 9 a.m. and noontoday, when it could vote to ban such ads in Nevada. Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, has been quoted as saying such ads are "a distraction" and "demeaning to the sport." "If they want to advertise on the trunks, that's fine with us," Ratner was quoted as saying in a Jan. 10 story by maxboxing.com. "But we feel that the body is not meant to advertise. We feel it's not NASCAR and they will have a hearing if they so desire at the end of the month and they can come and talk to us." GoldenPalace.com officials counter that it is increasingly difficult to "demean" a sport where fighters brawl at press conferences. They believe boxers have a First Amendment right to wear such tattoos in the ring. They also wonder if the Nevada Athletic Commission would be as quick to ban such advertising if the proponents weren't promoting an online casino. "My take is that they shouldn't have any say on what the boxers put on their bodies," said Eric Amgar, coordinator of sports and events for GoldenPalace.com. "You've seen boxers like Angel Manfredy and Johnny Tapia covered with tattoos. Nobody told them anything." Maxboxing.com quoted Ratner as saying the ads are "a distraction to the judges. On the TV screen when you're watching the fights, your eyes are drawn on that. It's a great advertising gimmick. I'm not saying it's not. But again, if they want to advertise they can do it on their trunks." Ratner has also raised safety concerns about tattoos smearing onto an opponent's gloves. But Amgar said there is no risk to either fighter. "We've done our research and we've learned as we've grown and we've found a way to make it stick," he said, adding that people have been wearing Henna tattoos for 3,000 years. Amgar adds that the ads have been a financial boost to fighters like Dorin and Hopkins, and to GoldenPalace.com, which saw its traffic increase after the ads appeared. Amgar hopes the commission eventually supports the First Amendment rights of boxers and online casinos seeking to advertise in the capital of land-based casinos. While the NBA and other sports leagues may ban such ads, Amgar argues that boxers have shorter careers, are not organized in unions and generally make less money than their counterparts in sports with multimillion-dollar licensing agreements and players' unions. "They're the one's who deserve it, they're the ones who wake up in the morning, train for months and take punches for 10 years of their life," he said of boxers. "I think they should be the ones getting the money and not the promoters, the arenas and the TV networks and so on. That's the bottom line, really." In his interview with maxboxing.com, Ratner sounded sympathetic to the boxer's point of view. "Yes, their careers are short and it's a tough game," Ratner said. "When they come before the commission and put it to us, maybe they can persuade the commission to vote for it." Amgar hopes they do just that.