CW Upsells Criticism in ‘Gossip Girl’ Promos
Generally, the one of the last things that a network wants is to end up fueling the ire of watchdog groups like the Parents Television Council. As soon as the form letter e-mails start pouring in, affiliates and censors start getting nervous and it all turns into an episode of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip“.
But the CW (a network geared toward a fairly young demographic) is making lots of lemonade out of the critics’ lemons. As Cynthia Littleton of Variety pointed out in her blog, the CW is now putting critical quotes about “Gossip Girl” in bold type on top of their racy promo posters.
Most of the promos (like the one to the left) have quotes from newspapers like the Boston Herald and the New York Post. But one came from the PTC, saying that the show is “Mind-blowingly Inappropriate.”
Funny enough, the PTC doesn’t seem to be upset that their words are being used to promote a show they clearly have issues with. But the group’s president Tim Winter clearly agrees with the CW’s promotional staff that all publicity is good publicity.
“Normally, we have to pay for our outdoor advertising,” Winter said to Variety. “We’d be thrilled if every network used our quotes about their programming to describe it in their ads.”
To see what the fuss is about (including some pre-season promos that look an awful lot like daytime soaps) visit Gossip Girl Report.
(Photo: The CW)
1 Comment
[...] Despite being the darling of Gawker and other gossip blogs last season, the CW’s “Gossip Girl” had never garnered huge ratings during its first season. But the CW worked a promotional campaign in past weeks that not only steamed up screens with sexy previews for the new season (set at a NYC prep school, natch) but also used negative publicity to trumpet the show as scandalous. [...]