MTV loves their controversy, first Jersey Shore pissed off the Italian demographic and now their new show Skins has drawn the outrage of the Parents Television Council (PTC) which has asked for a Child Pornography investigation to be opened against the network’s new show.
If you’re unfamiliar with Skins the show portrays teenagers using illegal drugs, drinking and engaging in sexual acts. The nature of the show has led the watchdog group to call for an official investigation into the shows content which features children as young as 15 years-old engaging in illegal activity.
According to the watchdog group the show uses:
“foul language illegal drug use, illegal activity as well as thoroughly pervasive sexual content.”
MTV in the meantime is defending the show, stating that it features “real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way.”
Taco Bell for their part has decided to agree with the PTC, telling the The Hollywood Reporter:
“We advertise on a variety of MTV programs that reach our core demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds, which included the premiere episode of ‘Skins,’” Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch went on to add “Upon further review, we’ve decided that the show is not a fit for our brand and have moved our advertising to other MTV programming.”
It’s not the first time a sponsor has been pulled out from an MTV show, in 2009 Domino’s pizza pulled their Jersey Shore ad from the show.
By pulling their ad, Taco Bell will lose nearly 3.3 million US Viewers between the ages of 12 to 34, that is if show numbers continue to remain as high as they did for Monday night’s series premiere.
