Saturday, August 9, 2008

A Note To NBC


I love the Olympics! I have been talking to our kids a lot about the Olympics lately, and have been anticipating watching them as a family. Too bad the coverage that airs in the middle of the night has middle-of-the-night commercial content.

Inspired by Rebecca's actions a few weeks ago, this afternoon, I sent an email to NBC about the tasteless "adult" commercials that are being aired during middle-of-the-night Olympic Coverage. I am posting about it here because I believe that our voices will be heard if many of us share our concerns with NBC about their low standards. If you want to email them about Olympic coverage, their email for this is: nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com

The text of my email is below (but please, write your own rather than just copying mine. It's more powerful that way.)

I am writing to complain about the content of the commercials being aired during the Olympic coverage. I recognize that much of Olympic coverage is being aired in the middle of the night and that the regulations for night time TV are different, but please understand that the Olympics are a family oriented event. We have programmed our DVR to tape most of the events airing on many NBC networks, and were appalled this afternoon, while watching fencing (taped on USA) with our 8 and 6 year old boys, to see a commerical for a personal vibrator as well as phone $ex commercials. Thank goodness we can skip through commercials--nevertheless, with our 30 seconds forward button, we got more exposure than we wanted to those commercials. My husband and I avoid late night TV because we don't like those types of commercials ourselves, but it is truly disappointing that the commercials airing during Olympic coverage were not screened to be family-friendly, when NBC knows that families watch the Olympics together.

I sincerely hope that this situation is changed quickly and is not the norm for the duration of the Olympic coverage.

Sincerely,

Michal xxx, a person in your desired viewing demographic (under 35, middle class, discretionary money, etc etc.)
Thanks for listening to my rant, dear readers!

10 comments:

mahina said...

wow! I had NO idea that they were airing such horrible commercials during "family-friendly" olympic coverage (we have no tv)! that is disgusting and irresponsible of nbc!

thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Mozi Esme said...

Here's to making a positive difference!

TheQueen@TerrorsInTiaras said...

I totally agree with you. Even watching during the day today, the shows they had previews for were definitely NOT family friendly! I'm drafting my letter to send off just now.

Becky said...

So surprising! I'm on it!

McD said...

Are you sure it is not your local station. We have not seen anything that bad.
You know, I was excited that you were sending a note to NBC, I was hoping it was to kick Bob Costas and his horrible writers off the show.
First the Russians, now this! My Olympics are offically ruined.
P.S. I will reveiw my shows and will follow in your excellent steps.

Molly said...

Great letter. I'll try to make mine sound that good!

Scrappy said...

I was disappointed enough in the commercials they aired during the opening ceremonies and they were nothing like those that you describe. That is terrible. I am going to write to them too.

Evan said...

I think you had better complain to Dish - not only did I only find family type commercials in the middle of the night (you know me) but NBC ran the entire Men's Volleyball match with even breaking for commercials between sets.
We asked for more coverage - and now I am afraid to miss anything. Mom

Angela said...

Good for you- I am going to write a note as well. I have felt the same way! I have spoke out on soft-porn and seen huge results. Thanks for leading the pack!

Shiloah Baker said...

That is disappointing to say the very least! We haven't watched any of the Olympics since we don't watch regular TV. That is shocking and I'm happy to see your letter! Way to go!