Earlier
story
When a funder arrives bearing cheese
puffs
Originally published in Current, Nov. 11,
1996
By Karen Everhart Bedford
Has PBS, eager to raise funds for children's programs,
opened the door for more ad-like underwriting spots to
air around them?
Complaints that the network may compromise its
commercial-free oasis for young TV viewers surfaced after
the Washington Post reported Oct. 23 [1996] that
Frito-Lay was offering $1 million to underwrite Wishbone,
a popular but expensive new series that urgently needs a
funder.
Advocates for good children's TV picked up on the
story, threatening "war" on PBS if it accepts
underwriting credited to Cheetos cheese-flavored snack
food.
PBS denies that it has received any such underwriting
proposal from Lyrick Studios, an arm of the Dallas-based
company that also produces Barney & Friends.
"No one could be more concerned with maintaining
public television's reputation for quality and integrity,
of course, than PBS," President Ervin Duggan wrote
in an Oct. 30 letter to Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
"[F]or this reason, we always give careful scrutiny
to proposals to underwrite children's programs."
But PBS's underwriting policy, revised by its board in
June, now allows the use of brand names in sponsorship
announcements for all programs. The result already is
visible within PBS's children's block: the brand name
Juicy Juice, a product of Libby's, is used in
underwriting credits around Arthur, a new animated
series for school-aged children.
The policy change was intended to correct an unfair
advantage the old rules gave to sponsors whose corporate
identity is also a brand name--such as Visa or Coca-Cola.
But another consequence of the change is that it could
allow brand names for junk food, for example, to be
attached to PBS's children's programs.
A briefing paper recommending the policy change to
board members acknowledged the "potential
sensitivity" of crediting brand names during kidvid,
but urged passage because "postponing this change
would result in a year's delay in capitalizing on the
potential of this new approach."
Along with his letter to Rep. Markey, Duggan enclosed
a videotape of underwriting spots for Arthur and Barney,
which has three corporate sponsors. "To date, we
have received virtually no viewer mail expressing concern
about these acknowledgments," Duggan wrote in the
letter. "It is our view, based on both empirical
data and opinion research, that the viewing public
recognizes and openly accepts the important purpose
served by corporate support of PBS programming, and has
no objection to the brief messages of thanks we
include--as distinct from commercial promotions, which we
strictly prohibit."
PBS spokesman Stu Kantor noted that PBS's sponsorship
rules for children's programs remain more stringent than
those governing general audience programs. Credits cannot
depict products, and mascots can appear only under
certain conditions.
"Ultimately, PBS program business affairs has to
clear underwriting credits and decide whether an
underwriting credit comports with the noncommercial
nature of public TV," Kantor added. Just because the
guidelines permit more commercial approaches doesn't mean
PBS will allow them.
When it debuted last fall, Wishbone quickly
struck a chord with its audience, which includes a
surprising mix of children and young adults. In
September, PBS announced plans to buy a still
undetermined number of new episodes, even though the
producers were still seeking much needed corporate
support. Wishbone production reportedly costs
$500,000 per episode.
Call for safeguards
Both PBS and Lyrick Studios have since sought to
distance themselves from the possibility of Cheetos
spots. "At this point no proposal has been brought
to us for review and clearance," said Kantor.
"I will not conjecture about a hypothetical."
A spokesman for Lyrick said that as a private company,
the production house does not discuss potential
underwriters. "We have been talking with potential
underwriters for some time," he said, but would not
confirm whether Cheetos was one of them.
"We have a quality show and any underwriting
credit that would be part of that would have to meet our
high standards and be very appropriate for our
audience," said Mack.
Dallas-based Frito-Lay, which produces Cheetos, did
not respond to Current's request for an interview.
However, sources close to PBS confirmed that Cheeto's
potential sponsorship has been under discussion at PBS.
Wayne Godwin, a PBS Board member and president of WCET,
Cincinnati, recalled hearing about the possibility
through an informal, hallway conversation during a recent
visit to PBS.
Another station source who requested anonymity said
PBS was considering "taking a second look at its
underwriting guidelines" for children's programs.
The source described a proposal that would require brand
sponsorship messages to be directed to adults, and said
PBS is considering reconvening a task force to look at
the issue.
Kantor confirmed that PBS had recently received a
proposal to target messages at adults, but he downplayed
the possibility that it would empanel another task to
revise the guidelines. "There are people with
expertise at the stations whom we call upon informally
for insight." Right now PBS is engaged in "a
process of multiple conversations with people inside and
outside of PBS."
The Washington-based Center for Media Education, which
reacted ferociously to news of Wishbone's
potential sponsors, is one such outside party to hold
talks with PBS. In a Nov. 4 meeting at Braddock Place,
CME officials told PBS executives that the new guidelines
did not adequately protect children's programs from
commercialism, recalled Jeffrey Chester, executive
director.
"PBS has to look at the new underwriting rules
more closely and develop more meaningful
safeguards," Chester said. CME would prefer that PBS
convene a task force with outside experts.
CME also asked PBS to "investigate the
relationships that children's television producers have
with corporate sponsors outside of PBS," said
Chester. In today's marketing environment of cobranding
and strategic alliances, PBS needs to "look at the
larger picture and gather more information about these
relationships."