Parents Television Council Wants More Advertisers to Drop Playboy Club
Amber Heard
The Parents Television Council says seven companies have pulled their advertising from NBC's The Playboy Club, and wants more to follow suit.
"The Playboy Club is a commercial disaster and must be removed from the airwaves. We call for the network to cancel this degrading and sexualizing program immediately," PTC President Tim Winter said.
Kraft, Sprint, Lenovo, UPS Store, Subway, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Campbell's Soup did not advertise on the show's second episode.
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The Playboy Club, a period drama starring Eddie Cibrian and Amber Heard as denizens of the first Playboy Club in Chicago in the early '60s, dropped about 20 percent in viewership in Week 2. According to TVGuide.com's Popularity Contest, 49 percent of users did not like the debut.
The ratings indicate that "any further airing of the show not only pushes an anti-family agenda, but is a profoundly bad business decision," Winter said.
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"PTC will be calling on its members and other concerned citizens to contact the sponsors," Winter added. "Today, we ask Capital One, Chrysler and Samsung if their corporate values are in step with those of the Playboy brand."
NBC told TVGuide.com: "Conversations we have with our clients regarding their media plans for this, or any other show, are between us and them."