Twitchy reports that parents are pressuring advertisers and calling on Nickelodeon to stop promoting Jason Biggs, and in particular that the network stop linking directly to his twitter account, where lewd and off-color tweets have recently made headlines:
As Twitchy reported last night, Nickelodeon is actively promoting the Twitter feed of actor Jason Biggs. Kids who follow Nickelodeon’s @TMNTMaster — an account that boasts nearly 2,400 followers — are literally one click away from this filth. Women’s rights groups such as the National Organization of Women, have yet to speak out, but concerned parents and others are calling on Nickelodeon’s advertisers to disassociate themselves from Biggs and his foul, hate-filled tweets.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles twitter “@TMNTMaster”, an official show account marketed to and targeted at children, tweeted out links to Bigg’s account:
Biggs, who lends his voice to the upcoming Nickelodeon show “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” deleted many of the most graphic tweets directed at Paul Ryan and his wife, but hasn’t stopped, including the following recent items [sexual content and language warning]:
Biggs’s wife, Jenny Mollen, has similar not-for-children (or adults?) content on her twitter account:
Nickelodeon has thus waded, like so many other large companies this year, into the political zone, as one of its upcoming stars reveals highly partisan, but more importantly, lewd speech that frightens any parents whose children might be watching the show or its star , and who could very likely be following either of their official accounts on twitter.
Twitchy lists the current advertisers to the network at the end of this article, which include Kraft Foods, General Mills, Mattel, Kellogg, Target (once again), Nintendo, Kleenex, McDonald’s, etc. In the meantime, companies continue to invite the rancor of their consumers by haphazardly either embracing or sanctioning content from the partisan to the profane by their brand managers and brand ambassadors.
In this case, parents are livid at the company’s actions; what will the Nickelodeon parent company Viacom’s shareholders say? Their ratings are already down 20-30 percent this year. Can they afford ignoring parents’ concerns and both supporting and promoting Biggs’s twitter account on top of their lagging ratings?
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