The moral voice of Christianity is combating the prince of the power of the air—and gaining ground. The Playboy Club tried again this week in its second episode to make sexual exploitation of women interesting enough to earn a profit.
It failed, this time without the support of many of its key sponsors. Viewership for the show is down 15 percent this week over last, coming in dead last among shows in that time slot.
“It is increasingly clear that the series is doomed,” says Dawn Hawkins, executive director of Morality in Media. “The primetime show shamelessly glamorized posing on the cover of Playboy Magazine for a cash prize, leaving many wondering why companies want to taint their products through association with the Playboy brand. The show’s new theme seemed to be: ‘Women get ahead in life through sexual objectification.’ This should be offensive to every woman in America.”
As Hawkins sees it, the lame dialogue of the show was nothing more than an attempt to justify the show itself, with lines such as: “In my bunny suit, I’m in total control; I want to be a Playmate because I want to show people that I can do big things, ” with the most incredulous line uttered: “Being a bunny is something to be proud of, which is exactly why Hef and I are doing this (Playboy) magazine campaign. To show the world that a bunny is a smart, independent girl focused not on what men want, but on what she wants.”
This past week thousands of citizens contacted the show’s previous sponsors, asking that they reconsider aligning their brand with blatant exploitation of women. Seven avoided the show this week: Kraft, Sprint, Lenovo, UPS Store, Subway, PF Chang’s China Bistro and Campbell’s Soup.
Why is Morality in Media is targeting The Playboy Club in particular, rather than targeting every sexually–themed television show?
“Playboy has done more to promote pornography than any other entity in the world. It is responsible, in great part, for the harm that pornography has caused to our nation,” Hawkins says. “The Playboy Club is an attempt to convince us that the culture of porn is liberating to women, when research shows that harm from pornography is at pandemic levels. Americans aren’t falling for this porn myth.”
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