NASHVILLE — The American Family Association (AFA) has rallied enough people to complain about ABC’s newest hit show “Desperate Housewives” that three main advertisers have agreed not to air additional spots.
“Desperate Housewives” features four middle-aged women who are unhappy with their roles as wives and mothers and seek to find excitement through extramarital romantic escapades.
The show, which airs in prime time on Sundays, debuted with strong ratings in late September. Nearly 21 million viewers tuned in Oct. 17.
But AFA followers began inundating e-mail servers and phone lines at five companies who sponsored the show — Tyson, Lowe’s, Kellogg’s and frozen meal makers ConAgra Foods and Pinnacle Foods Group — urging them to pull their ads because the show negatively depicts family values, CNNmoney reported.
Within hours, Lowe’s and Tyson notified AFA to say they were discontinuing advertising on the show.
“The show is not consistent with our core values, which focus on operating with integrity and trust in all we do,” Tyson spokesman Gary Michaelson said, according to CNN.
Lowe’s gave a similar statement. “Our advertising guidelines are such that Lowe’s chooses not to advertise in controversial programming, including programming with gratuitous sex and violence,” said Chris Ahearn, director of public relations at Lowe’s, according to CNN. Kellogg’s also confirmed the company would not purchase more commercial time on the show.
“We usually look at the list of advertisers and we go [after] those that are considered family-friendly companies,” said Randy Sharp, special projects editor for AFA.
“These folks know that moms buy their frozen products.”
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