It takes a certain amount of gratuitous sex and violence to make advertisers squeamish.
   And Vince McMahon seems to have the formula down pat. If his Xtreme Football League, which premieres this weekend, proves to be anything like his WWF wrestling franchise, the guy may very well lay claim to the two shows most often avoided by advertisers.
    Already his "WWF Smackdown" on UPN tops the dirty dozen, a list of shows that media buyers told Media Life are the least appropriate for their clients.
   But that’s not to say McMahon doesn’t have challengers.
   New shows like Fox’s "Temptation Island" and MTV’s "Jackass" join the list of standbys like "Jerry Springer" and Howard Stern’s two shows that made the dirty dozen last year.
   The shows regularly elicit the ire of groups promoting quality television like the Parents Television Council, which is now targeting "Temptation Island" for its premise of staged infidelity.
    But they are also the shows that advertisers avoid because they could potentially tarnish their brand image.
    Perhaps more important, the dirty dozen are also most likely to anger consumers. And angry consumers send letters of complaint to CEOs and generate bad press, both of which have a way of trickling down to media buyers in something akin to a cease-and-desist order.
    "It’s remarkable how much influence a letter writer can have on marketing decisions. One letter to the right person can lead to a note saying, ‘take care of this problem,’" says a media buyer in the Midwest.
    "It’s because clients are in such highly competitive environments. If you anger enough customers, it could make a difference."
   One media research director says: "It’s the silent majority who think these shows are no big deal but certain advertisers are very skittish about getting letters.
    "The American Family Association claims to have 500,000 members and they threaten boycotts. And CEOs and boards of directors quake in fear."
  Letters of complaint, for the most part, start with a well-orchestrated campaign.
   The PTC, which claims to have 600,000 members, has actively campaigned against "Temptation Island."
   Already Sears, Quaker Oats, and Best Buy have stopped advertising.
     Sears, however, never intended to be on the show, according to a spokesperson for Fox. The spot was a make-good, which means the network gave Sears commercial time to make up for an audience shortfall on a previous spot.
   A spokesperson for Best Buy says they advertised on the reality show in a make-good situation as well.
    But the PTC says they have successfully campaigned against "Smackdown" and Howard Stern in the past.
    Other campaigns have seemingly been successful more recently. The website Stopdrlaura.com, for example, asked advertisers to pull out of "Dr. Laura."
    The syndicated talk show, also on the list, has indeed lost advertisers, which may have more to do with the show’s poor ratings.
    "Jackass" is now getting a good deal of attention too. That’s because a teenager lit himself on fire in an attempt to duplicate a stunt he saw on the show.
    Former vice presidential nominee and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman has asked MTV to tone the show down and air it at a time when teenagers aren’t likely to watch.
    Advertisers and media buyers, however, do not simply wait for controversy or complaints to roll in.
     Instead they often screen shows for content in order to prevent any problems. And they often take their cue from big advertisers like Procter & Gamble, which regularly monitor programs.
    "Our clients don’t want to get letters from consumers," says Roy Rothstein, vice president and director of national broadcast research at Zenith Media. "We try to avoid anything that will create confrontation so we’re cognizant of what’s going on and get enough advance notice."
    And advertisers looking to develop inoffensive shows on which to advertise have created their own group, the Family Friendly Programming Forum.
    The group, co-chaired by P&G and Johnson & Johnson, is involved in script development and was behind the creation of The WB’s "Gilmore Girls" and is developing other shows with other networks.
     "In a nutshell, we’re trying to bring families together and not drive them apart," says a spokesperson for P&G. "The way you do that is by creating programming."
    The flipside to the dirty dozen is that there are generally plenty of advertisers willing to put their ad dollars into shows with controversial content.
    Part of the reason for that is because these shows often attract young viewers who are otherwise tough to find. And advertisers, like movie companies for example, specifically target the demo.
   Moreover, programs like "Jerry Springer" are priced down because of advertiser hesitation and lure those in search of some inexpensive eyeballs.
    Working in the favor of media buyers, too, is the fact that commercial inventory has been expanding with the growing number of new networks.
    Dan Rank, managing partner of national broadcast at OMD, says simply: "Some advertisers want to avoid controversial content. But you don’t need to run in them."
    "If you don’t want to be in ‘Jackass,’ for example, MTV won’t make you go in," says another media buyer.
    "If you want to cherry pick their best shows, it will cost you. But if you want to avoid specific shows, they’ll let you."

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.

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