OMFG, The New Gossip Girl Ad Campaign
The television show Gossip Girl that airs on the CW has recently been described as “Sex and the City for young girls. The show gets very good ratings and is in the top ten for shows on television with girls ranging from ages twelve to seventeen. The story lines are risqué, but the question at hand now is directed towards the new campaign for Gossip Girl. Some believe the new campaign promotes sex. The show circles around drinking, drugs, and sex amongst high school kids. There is no doubt that the show is racy but the new ad campaign has many people outraged, including the Parents Television Council. The face of the new provocative ad campaign pictures high schoolers appearing to have sex next to the acronym ‘OMFG.’ This can be seen online, on posters, and on billboards in plain view of young kids and parents. The vice president of marketing at the CW says the acronym is open to interpretation. He says that it stands for an expression of surprise or I can’t believe it. Accusations against the ad campaign call it raunchy and borderline pornography, but the vice president disagrees. The PTC is considering pressuring advertisers and is already warning parents.
It’s nice for parents to think that if they don’t see an advertisement such as the new Gossip Girl ad campaign that their children aren’t doing what the actors in the show do. It’s also nice for parents to think that if there wasn’t a show like Gossip Girl on television their children also wouldn’t do what the actors in the show do. Yes, it’s nice for them to think that, but it doesn’t make it true. High-schoolers will drink, will do a drug of some sort, and will most probably have sex. There is no stopping this, and they already know what these things are or have heard about them, so the show isn’t really teaching them anything new. Can’t young adults be given enough credit to make decisions on their own or make a mistake to learn from it, rather than bored and narrow minded parents trying to control their every move. The more parents try to control their kids the more they will push away and be dishonest with their parents. The more parents try to shelter their kids, the worse it will be for kids when they are grown up and out in the real world.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2008/04/28/anderson.showbiz.monday.cnn?iref=videosearch
posted by Nina W. at 8:32 PM
2 Comments:
I totally agree with you! i think that if people watch these shows with their children at least it wont be awkward when the conversation comes up after the show. I mean if you really close to your kid then the conversation should be brought up about safe sex and what not. But it'll just be an easier way to turn to that subject to protect them in the future.
I disagree. While yes parents can't control what their kids watch and do, ads like the one for Gossip Girl is not something that should be everywhere where young children could see it. The issue isn't the show but rather the ad which was shown. Kids are growing up a lot faster now and becoming more sexual at a much younger age than before and seeing ads like this make sexual activity not only acceptable but also almost expected.
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