The Parents Television Council is urging McDonald’s to reconsider sponsoring Fox Broadcasting’s new series, Scream Queens, which has featured graphic gore and sexual content that would typically be seen in R-rated movies, and that airs as early as 7 p.m. in half of the country. McDonald’s ads have appeared on the first four episodes of the new TV show.
The PTC’s review of Scream Queens said, “Parents are warned: Mean-spirited, sexualized, gory horror show is unsafe for children of any age.”
Content in the show has included a character’s face being fried in hot cooking fat; another character is sprayed with hydrochloric acid, with close-ups showing her bloody skin burning and melting off; several young sorority pledges are buried in the ground up to their necks while the “Devil” drives over their heads on a riding mower. The episode that aired on Oct. 6 featured a discussion about necrophilia.
“The Golden Arches brand now stands for sexual fantasies with dead people and with decapitating college coeds. No wonder McDonald’s is having problems attracting families, when millions of the company’s media dollars underwrite such content on Scream Queens early in the evening on primetime broadcast TV,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“Not only is McDonald’s financing a toxic media culture, they are hurting their own pocketbooks. We urge McDonald’s to do well and to do good at the same time, by changing course and recognizing what scientific research has already proven to be true—that advertising on TV shows with explicit content can truly be bad for business.
“One such study is from the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and suggests that programs with high levels of violent or sexual content can actually repress the viewers’ ability to recall advertised brands. By contrast, subjects who watched ‘neutral’ programming were better able to recall the ads the following day.
“Nevertheless, and amid falling sales, McDonald’s corporate marketing team has continued to compromise its image and reputation as a family-friendly fast-food destination with poor sponsorship decisions; and those sponsorship decisions are hurting the McDonald’s brand, hurting McDonald’s reputation with families and hurting their franchisees.
“It’s time for McDonald’s to stop sponsoring offensive and harmful TV content, especially early in primetime when the content is so easily accessible to kids.”
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