ABC has turned down an ad for the film "Our Idiot Brother," sending a memo to the Weinstein Co. outlining its objections, reports the New York Post. The ad has been running on other networks.
“Please remove the visual of the exchange of what is assumed to be drugs," the memo says, according to the piece. “Please remove the visual of the character using the juice box to depict urination,” and, “Please remove the references to getting high and smoking.”
The comedy, which stars Paul Rudd, was produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who fell out with Disney, which owns ABC, in 2005, the story points out.
ABC said it has run other ads for "Our Idiot Brother" but objected to this spot because it "violated our long-established ad guidelines," the story notes.
The article should be titled “Our Idiot Network.”
We see a lot worse on most of the shows on ABC, even during the 8pm & 9pm hours.
The difference here is that it is an advertisement, that may air in the primetime window. It is not unreasonable for ABC to want to avoid “surprizing” the audience with this content, that may find it objectionable. With scheduled shows, the audience has prior knowledge of what may or may not air in that window.
ABC objected to the content because the movie commercial was found to be more entertaining than the crap they’re airing in programming.
And in terms of “surpizing” the audience with objectionable content… that would be very hypocritical of them with the trash and innuendos found within their shows.
And I like ABC!
Entertaining for adults, but not something I’d want my still-innocent children to see during their awake hours of the day.