Arts & Entertainment

Parents TV Council Says 'MTV Serves Sex to 14-Year-Olds at Video Music Awards'

"MTV has once again succeeded in marketing sexually charged messages to young children," PTC claims.

The Parents Television Council, which bills itself as a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment, has issued a statement about the MTV Video Music Awards televised on cable this past Sunday night.

"MTV has once again succeeded in marketing sexually charged messages to young children using former child stars and condom commercials - while falsely rating this program as appropriate for kids as young as 14. This is unacceptable," PTC Director of Public Policy Dan Isett said in a prepared statement released Monday Aug. 26.

"This much is absolutely clear: MTV marketed adults-only material to children while falsely manipulating the content rating to make parents think the content was safe for their children," Isett said.

"MTV continues to sexually exploit young women by promoting acts that incorporate 'twerking' in a nude-colored bikini," Isett said. "How is this image of former child star Miley Cyrus appropriate for 14-year-olds?

"How is it appropriate for children to watch Lady Gaga strip down to a bikini in the opening act?

"How is it appropriate for 14-year-olds to see a condom commercial and a promo for an R-rated movie during the first commercial break?

"This content would likely not be given a forum if it were on a broadcast network," Isett said. "Yet MTV continues to push limits because it’s a cable network. But that does not mean MTV's decisions have no consequences, especially for the millions of children who were targeted by MTV.

"We urge Congress to pass the Television Consumer Freedom Act which will give parents and consumers a real solution for future MTV VMA programs – the ability to choose and pay for cable networks that they want vs. having to pay for networks they don’t want," Isett said. "After MTV's display last night, it's time to give control back to consumers."

The Miley Cyrus/Robin Thicke performance substituted talent with sex, PTC Advisory Board Member and former BET Executive Paul Porter said.

"Viacom has a set of corporate broadcast standards that were obviously broken in this case for financial gain," Porter said. "While the performance was shocking to the audience, MTV approved it during the show run prior to the broadcast. Heads should roll at MTV."

The Parents Television Council is based in Los Angeles. For more information about the council visithttp://w2.parentstv.org/main/About/Default.aspx.

For more information about the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards visit http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/. --By Guy McCarthy


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