Media Industry to Re-Run TV Boss PSAs as Part of New Parental Tool Campaign
Remember the “TV Boss” public service announcements that ran in 2006 and 2007? They're coming back. The PSAs portrayed young parents telling recognizable TV character tropes -- the mobster, the killer, the junkie -- that while their shows were very entertaining they would be “blocked” in their homes with young children. Media industry groups said Wednesday they're reviving the campaign as part of a broader effort to educate the public about TV parental controls. Such a campaign had been expected (CD Jan 30 p1) after the media industry came under congressional scrutiny following the elementary schools massacre in Newtown, Conn.
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MPAA, NAB, NCTA, American Cable Association, National Association of Theater Owners, DirecTV and Verizon FiOS will participate in the campaign, they said. The campaign’s objectives are to teach parents about TV and film ratings systems and the parental controls built into set-top boxes and TV sets, they said.
Parents Television Council Director of Public Policy Dan Isett had a more cynical view on the campaign’s objectives. “The purpose of the PSAs is to manipulate Congress,” and stave off any further legislative attempts, he said. “It serves no actual purpose in the real world.” He said the initial TV Boss campaign “did not move the needle at all,” in terms of usage of parental controls. “Why on earth would this be any different?” Marketing experts at the time that campaign was begun were skeptical it would educate parents or change their behavior.
Media industry officials said they're committed to the campaign, which will also include PSAs about mental health. An industry official said NAB CEO Gordon Smith sent an email to the association’s board members asking for their support for the campaign and to set aside ad inventory to run the spots. The industry is working on a style guide to be distributed to cable and broadcast newsrooms with some best practices when reporting on people with mental illnesses, the source said.
And the TV Boss campaign was successful on its first run, said an NCTA spokesman. “Those previous campaigns were well-researched and well-received,” he said. “Instead of reinventing the wheel, we had something readily available.” In addition to the TV spots, movie theaters will show some related PSAs in theaters before screening movies, the groups said.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said he commended the industry’s effort to educate families, even though “many parents are already familiar with the various ratings systems, as well as other parental control mechanisms such as V-Chips.” The campaign, is “an important way to help raise their awareness of the tools that already exist to help them … exercise greater discretion over their children’s viewing” of TV shows and movies, he said.