FCC Excuses ABC, Rules Lingerie Display Not Offensive

(AgapePress) — The FCC has let ABC off the hook for broadcasting a lingerie show, NBC has decided to drop ads for hard liquor, and some Sunday morning cartoon characters from a previous generation have been resurrected in a soft-drink commercial.

The president of the American Family Association says he is not surprised with the FCC's decision to dismiss complaints against Victoria's Secret "lingerie show" broadcast during primetime last year. The show aired last November on Disney-owned ABC Television and garnered hundred of complaints. The FCC has now responded, saying the lingerie show was not patently offensive.

AFA President Dr. Don Wildmon says the FCC is putting money ahead of morals. "Money doesn't know Republican or Democrat; money is only green," Wildmon says. "And because of the way the system works, I don't look for anything to change, even with George W. Bush in the White House."

Wildmon says FCC commissioners are more concerned with landing lucrative jobs in the broadcasting industry after their terms expire than with enforcing decency on television.

Liquor Ads Out

Meanwhile, another official with the American Family Association says protests from the public and Congress led to NBC's recent decision to pull hard liquor television ads.

Last December, NBC announced it was breaking with industry practice and would begin airing ads for hard liquor during prime-time viewing. Now the network says it is ending that policy.

Randy Sharp, special projects director with the AFA, says the network's decision to start airing ads for hard liquor was irresponsible. "When NBC announced that they would air these ads, the American people and two of their congressmen spoke out against NBC, and collectively we've made a difference," Sharp says.

The pro-family activist says there were reports that CBS was also thinking about airing hard liquor ads. "We knew that would happen once NBC broke that taboo and that barrier the others would follow," he says. "Hopefully now, for at least another decade or so, hard liquor ads are off limits on network television."

The alcohol industry spends more than $1 billion on product advertising each year.

'Davey' Does the Dew

And still on the television scene, a spokesman for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is defending the denomination's decision to use two characters that appeared in a popular Sunday morning television show years ago to hawk a soft drink.

During the 1950s and 1960s, "Davey and Goliath" were Sunday morning favorites on television stations nationwide. Now, the stop-motion animation characters are making a comeback in ads for Mountain Dew soft drinks, toy figures, and a series of new videos. One of the ads has sparked controversy, with Davey using the slang term "hosed," which means "disrespected."

Pastor Eric Shafer with the ELCA says the decision to allow the use of Davey and Goliath in the ads was an economic one. "We took the funds we received and put it in a savings account…we combined that with other funds we're receiving from the products and the sales of the old videos and building up the funds so that we can launch the new (Davey videos)."

According to Shafer, those new episodes will feature the same moral lessons, but with modern-day scenarios. He says the new installments will have to look at other issues because children today are confronted with some more difficult issues. "I'm sure a new (episode) will have to include Davey confronting a friend who brought a gun to school, or Davey having a friend or an acquaintance that uses drugs and things like that," he says. "But the essential format of Mom and Dad saving Davey who gets in trouble, and Goliath functioning as his conscience will continue, I'm sure, whatever the specific themes are."

The church is also working on 26 new television episodes of "Davey and Goliath." Shafer says the commercial should run for most of the year.

 

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