NEW YORK (May 15, 2007) – At the annual JP Morgan Chase shareholders meeting, the Parents Television Council™ called on the company to adopt advertising guidelines that will keep its brand off of shows it has recently sponsored that regularly feature extremely graphic violence and sexual situations.  PTC North Jersey Chapter Director Crystal Madison delivered the remarks at today’s meeting and excerpts follow:

 

“I am here today representing the Parents Television Council, a non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious group committed to protecting children from sex, violence and profanity in entertainment.

 

“I congratulate JP Morgan Chase for its long time tradition of giving back to the community to serve the greater good.  It truly is central to your history and culture the principle of working to improve the communities that you serve.  Such examples include community development, the JP Morgan Chase giving programs and a variety of significant environmental affairs.

 

“Today, the Parents Television Council would like to encourage JP Morgan Chase to continue to support family friendly programming on commercial television through their ad buys.  In the past, you have supported such family friendly shows as Deal or No Deal and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

 

“However, we are concerned with your Chase brand advertising on programming that contains graphic violence, excessive sexual content and foul language and we think this needs to stop – now.

 

“It is a shame that Chase cannot demonstrate leadership as a responsible corporate citizen as reflected in the support of the company’s consistent pattern of advertising on some of the most violent and vulgar programming on television.  It appears to me, and to the Parents Television Council’s 1.1 million members, that Chase does not have media guidelines in place to keep its name off of programs containing graphic and explicit content. 

 

“As an example, over the past year Chase has sponsored such shows as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Two and A Half Men and Criminal Minds.  The Criminal Minds series features extreme types of violence, including a depiction of dead bodies, a woman held in a cage by her killer, the victim of an arsonist burning alive, and women being attacked by a serial rapist/murderer.

 

“The PTC’s message to JP Morgan Chase is this – your advertising dollars reflect your corporate values.  I doubt the Board of Directors or the shareholders would be proud of these programs your media dollars support.

 

“I am pleading with you, on behalf of millions of Americans, to stop underwriting sleaze and adopt responsible advertising guidelines that will keep Chase brands off of programming that contains foul language, gratuitous sex, and graphic violence.  Will Chase continue paying for the ‘cultural sewage’ that is broadcast into our homes on a nightly basis?  Or, will Chase be a responsible corporate citizen and dedicate its advertising dollars toward sponsoring pro-social, family-friendly programming?

 

“The Parents Television Council would like to work with you.  We would like to let our 1.1 million members know whether or not Chase is dedicated to responsible advertising and not to return to sponsoring some of the most offensive and violent programming on television.  I hope that I will be able to tell them that Chase is adopting advertising guidelines that reflect its corporate values.”