The Chicago Defender reports at least two top advertisers in General Motors and Procter & Gamble have pulled ads from BET’s “Rap City” (music videos) and “106 & Park” ) a top 10 music video countdown). They air at 4 and 5 p.m. (CT) and target an after-school audience.
A recent Parent Television Council study highlighted high levels of sex, violence and profanity in both programs. It said Rap City featured on average 31.6 instances of sex, 25.3 instances of explicit language and 11.7 instances of violence per hour.
Armed with the report, leaders of the Enough is Enough campaign–a movement for corporate responsibility in entertainment–began petitioning BET’s top advertisers to pull their ads from the shows. Rev. Delman Coates, chairman of the campaign, led the charge.
“We let (advertisers) know that the Enough is Enough campaign is seeking to challenge lyrical and visual content, in the hip hop industry in particular, that sexually objectifies Black women, portrays Black men as pimps, gangsters and thugs, glorifies violence, criminal activity, drug use. We made them aware that they’re currently running commercials during (programs that feature this content),” Coates told The Chicago Defender.
Procter & Gamble and GM quietly pulled ads from Rap City and 106 & Park. Coates claims that Pepsi and Walmart did so also, although the companies did not confirm this with the Defender.
Kelly Cusinato, advertising and marketing communications manager for GM, said that conversations with Coates influenced the company’s decision. “We asked (BET) for a better monitoring process to allow us as an advertiser to understand which videos were running within an hour-long program,” Cusinato told The Defender.
