Sex may sell… but not when it comes to taxes. H&R Block, the nation’s top tax preparation service, has decided to pull its ads from MTV’s controversial show, Skins.
Sort of.
The company claims that it wasn’t planning to be a sponsor on the show anyway and that the ad that ran during the premiere was a mistake.
Skins, which airs on MTV (which usually to actually show music videos), is a remake of the racy British TV show of the same name. The show focuses heavily on teens using illegal drugs, drinking and having sex.
You’d think if Americans have learned anything from the Brits, it’s that, with very few exceptions (think The Office), we don’t remake British shows well. I’ve seen the US remakes of both Coupling and Top Gear and have not yet decided which is more tragic…
But back to H&R Block. It becomes the fourth sponsor to drop advertising on the show (Taco Bell, GM and Wrigley’s are the others) after the Parents Television Council urged advertisers to drop from the show. The Council referred to the show as “the most dangerous television show for children that we have ever seen.” The Council also expressed concern about how MTV was promoting the show, noting that the depictions of teens using drugs and having sex drew viewers as young as age 12. MTV has announced that the show drew the most viewers in the P12-34 demographic for a show launch in the network’s history.
Hey! Give American Top Gear a chance!
As for H&R Block, I call it a windfall when your commercially accidentally gets run on a network’s most successful premiere in history.
I could not relate your topic with the content, but I am in for the issue here. Such shows, like Skins, have a bad effect on youth. Usually such hows give such children new ideas to cross the line.