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Will BET be right back after advertisers give it the Imus treatment?
July 7, 2008--Hallelujah!
Have you heard the good news? If not, let me be the first to tell you.
BET has FINALLY gotten the ol' Don Imus treatment. That's right. Some major sponsors have pulled advertisements from BET, due to the gratuitous violence, profanity and obscenity on some of the cable network's programs, according to a report in the Chicago Defender.
Forgive me for saying it again, but, hallelujah!
Indeed, this is truly a watershed moment for black people everywhere that are determined to reverse, or at least retard, the influence of ubiquitous, destructive images and messages in media. It's a victory for people who believe "corporate responsibility" means more than an empty slogan.
Viewers have tirelessly petitioned BET's top advertisers, such as General Motors and Procter & Gamble, to pull ads from programs such as RapCity and 106 & Park that air during peak after-school television watching hours, attracting a large, under-18 audience.
What's the triumph in this, you ask? Kids are just watching two shows full of music videos. Could they really be that bad?
Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes!
In fact, an April study by the Parent Television Council found high levels of violence, profanity and sex in both programs.
I don't think it was necessary to commission a study to see that, but it is stunning to see the corrosiveness of the television network quantified. Most damning is that the report found that RapCity featured on average 31.6 instances of sex, 25.3 instances of explicit language and 11.7 instances of violence per hour. For years, this poisonous cocktail has quietly undermined the advances of an entire people—neatly packaged into unassuming television programming, hour after hour, day after day.
The campaign at the helm of this movement has captured this sentiment and aptly titled itself Enough is Enough. The Rev. Delman Coates, chairman of Enough is Enough, has done a fine job of putting companies like GM, Procter & Gamble, McDonald's, YUM! Brands and Verizon on notice. He has armed himself with the findings of the report and made companies that advertise on BET aware that they're running commercials during programs that feature this content.
One would think that there would be only one reaction from companies faced with these findings: withdrawal of all advertising dollars, period. Well, not quite. Even when presented with this information, most companies have not made a move to pull ads, and those that have didn't pull their ads from the network altogether. They have only shifted their advertising dollars to other programs, which has sheltered BET from any loss in revenue, according to the Chicago Defender report.
So this small triumph is not giving us all we need, but it's a step in the right direction. We should not get complacent with this mitigated victory because the battle has not been won until, at the very least, BET does a serious overhaul of its programming.
We've already suffered for years from this toxic material wreaking havoc in the core of our community and shaping the public's perception of us. Our communities have watched as our youth have moved further and further away from our rich cultural and historical legacy and closer to the fictitious universe of media caricatures that bombard us daily: images of the black man as a wreckless and violent thug. These characterizations have instilled distrust and fear among law enforcement, which in the cases of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell, ended in tragedy.
What will it take for all of us to stand up and finally use our Ujima to draw a line in the sand and send a message? What will it take for you? What are we willing to do to show big business that we mean business?
I don't know when or how it will happen, but just like Sam Cooke said, It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.
And let the church say, amen.
Janelle Jolley is a writer in Washington, D.C.
Also on The Root:
Mychal Massie sticks it to J.C. Watts' new venture, Ta-Nehisi Coates gives a fresh scent of hip-hop's daisy age, Evette Porter can't find the reality in black reality TV.
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View All Comments »jml2008 at 07/11/2008 11:33:26 AM
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Bottom line: BET is a business. Businesses want to make money. So...they will continue to play what people want and what advertisers support. I think its wonderful that major advertisers have put their foot down.
When it starts hurting them in their pockets, BET will change.
alechiajack at 07/11/2008 12:13:01 AM
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Don't go to commercial?! Why not just state the necessary: Don't go to BET! I stopped watching BET years ago due to the lack of creativity and originality in the programming, especially when it was black-owned. I could not and still cannot understand why this network cannot come up with its own original sitcoms and dramas, etc. to fill up 24 hours. The only good thing about BET being sold to a white-owned corporation is that now they can afford to run reruns of old black shows. Yet, they have no interest in developing any new black shows, especially with all of the talented actors and actresses, writers and producers in the industry looking for work!. Why is Tyler Perry's House of Payne on TBS instead of BET? Because BET has no credibility for airing quality programming for any audience. The acronym BET stands for BAD Entertainment Television, not Black Entertainment Television. And the white conglomerate that owns it will continue to run the ads because the ad execs could care less about the degrading programming their commercials are running next to, only that someone is watching the programs so that they will see their commercials. Black America will have to make a statement by boycotting the products advertised. And that Oprah Network isn't much better. Maybe they're not showing degrading videos, but some of the shows are no better. Is there anything original and creative on that network? Although the opportunities are available for African Americans to show that they can create original programming and run a successful network, no one seems to know what to do now that the door of opportunity is open. Why did I leave the communications field to get into education?! It may be time for a major career change. Or, hopefully, the students I am sending into the world will fulfill my dream of becoming a big time network exec.
deekin at 07/10/2008 10:12:50 PM
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BET made a turn for the worst when it was taken over by Viacom about a decade ago. From that moment you began to see a sharp change in the programming, and the advertising. No more thought-provoking socially responsible and conscious shows like Teen Summit, and tastefully done music video shows like Video Vibrations and Caribbean Rhythms. Even Rap City is no longer what it once was. I havent watched BET since 2001, because I feel that it no longer represents Black Entertainment on Television. BET has lost all respect and authority amongst my family members. BET being white-owned and operated since the Viacom take-over has made me salty on BET. Keeping the history of Black-white racial relations in America in mind, it doesnt make sense to support, endorse entertainment broadcasted by white corporate America as images of what Black people are supposed to be like and are supposed to enjoy. Fox's attacks on Obama make it abundantly clear that white corporate America doesnt want to see Black people as a group rise up the challenge of our rich cultural heritage and fulfill the promise of the people of the civil rights movement.