Social mores evolve, as do consumer tastes and the boundaries of what's acceptable in media. But when it comes to advertisers there's little that changes.

Sex, violence and dirty talk remain big turnoffs, and many will go out of their way to avoid having their spots run on TV shows that feature any of the three.

And the shows that turned off advertisers three or six years ago still turn off advertisers, and leading that list is "Jerry Springer," the daytime chat show in which couples often go at each other with foul language and fists.

That's the finding of a Media Life survey of media planners and buyers that was posted earlier this week asking readers to identity the Dirty Dozen, the TV shows their clients were most inclined to avoid. 

Other shows advertisers are inclined to avoid are wrestling, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Cops," "Reno 911," "Sex and the City," "South Park, "Family Guy," "TMZ," the new syndicated gossip show, "Desperate Housewives," "Maury," "Two and a Half Men," "The Simpsons," the syndicated court shows, "Cashmere Mafia," "Dexter," "American Gladiators," "Nip/Tuck," "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" and "Rescue Me."

Now compare that to the results of a similar survey last year: "Jerry Springer," "Cops," "Nip/Tuck," "America's Most Wanted," "Family Guy," "WWE," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Desperate Housewives," "The War at Home," "Sex and the City," ABC's "Primetime," "Maury," "The Shield," "The Girls Next Door" and "Two and a Half Men."

Now compare that to 2001: wrestling, "Temptation Island," "South Park," "Jerry Springer," "Howard Stern," "Jackass," "Politically Incorrect," "America's Most Wanted," "Cops," "Dr. Laura," "The Man Show" and "Ally McBeal."

This year, as in prior years, the biggest turnoff was sexual content. Asked to choose what would raise red flags with advertisers, and told they could choose more than one, 62 percent of respondents chose sex. Last year sex came in at 60 percent.

Not far behind this year was obscene language, at 57 percent. Last year it came in at 51 percent.

And right behind was violence, at 54 percent. Last year it came in at 37 percent.

But interestingly, right up there was "Unpredictability of guests and/or topics" at 51 percent. Last year it also came in at 51 percent.

That explains why talk shows are often avoided. Even though advertisers may like the show, and even admire the host, say Oprah Winfrey, they'll take a pass because they never know who's going to be on and what they might say.

A lot of the shows go into topics that would be considered taboo around a dinner table, including "Oprah.”

Another big turnoff: shows likely to anger consumers. That came in at 51 percent as well. Last year it came in at 40 percent.

What scored relatively low on the reasons for avoiding a show? Previous criticism by a family watchdog group.

For all the furor those groups can stir up, advertisers apparently don't seem to pay much attention. Just 32 percent of respondents cited that as a reason for avoiding a show. Last year it was at 26 percent.

Another relative low-scorer: mature content on a young-skewing show, also at 32 percent. Last year it came in at 34 percent.

Obviously, some advertisers are far more concerned about their ads appearing amid dicey content than others. And it turns out the most sensitive in that regard are the big packaged-goods advertisers, toy companies and those that strive to present a family-friendly image, as well as car makers, banks and retailers.

The least concerned about where there ads appear are younger-skewing advertisers, clubs, lawyers, beer, movies, direct-response and cell phones.

Media Life readers believe the big turnoff shows are most likely to be on cable, and by a wide margin, 68 percent of respondents. Some 19 percent chose broadcast, while 13 percent thought syndication.

Last year it was cable at 57 percent, broadcast at 17 percent and syndication at 20 percent.

On broadcast, Fox is the network with shows most likely to offend advertisers, in the eyes of a third of the respondents. ABC and MyNetworkTV tie for a distant second at 11 percent. CBS and NBC both score zeros.

Last year, Fox scored 58 percent, MyNetworkTV 6 percent and ABC 3 percent. CBS and NBC came in at 3 percent.