We have good news! The Hollywood Reporter announced that NBC has cancelled The Playboy Club.
To those of you who have taken action by contacting your local NBC affiliates and the program’s sponsors, THANK YOU! This victory is yours!
NBC finally did the right thing by canceling this series, but let’s be clear; this program should never have gotten the green-light from NBC to begin with. The Playboy empire was built on the exploitation and degradation of women. By bringing the series to television, NBC was helping to mainstream a pornographic brand.
Since this spring, when NBC announced plans to bring a Playboy-themed series to prime time, the PTC has been actively working to educate viewers, sponsors, and NBC’s affiliates about what the Playboy brand represents.
America got the message, even if NBC didn’t. The last episode garnered barely more than a million viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Several advertisers dropped their support. Countless others had refused to have anything to do with the program in the first place. The NBC affiliate inSalt Lake City,UTrefused to carry the program at all.
We are grateful to every member of the public who responded to our call to take action against this attempt to mainstream a brand that is synonymous with the pornography industry. We are only effective because of YOUR activism and support.
The Playboy Club is the fourth television program this year that was cancelled by the networks after being targeted by the PTC. We’ve shown how much we can accomplish when we speak out in opposition to media content that is damaging and harmful to children and to families.
Tim Winters, President of Parents Television Council