By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
November 20, 2002
(AgapePress) - Pro-family groups are encouraging concerned Christians to contact the FCC to voice complaints about a fashion show on television tonight featuring scantily clad models.
Tonight CBS airs The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Published reports say CBS's version will be much racier than a similar program aired last year on ABC. Buddy Smith is executive assistant for the American Family Association. Smith says the Federal Communications Commission needs to hear from those who do not want to see nudity in the family hour.
"It's just going to be an evening where half-naked women are going to be paraded down the runway -- and we think that this violates some indecency laws, especially because it's being aired during the family hour," Smith says. He adds that the network is placing money over morality. "CBS needs to be held accountable for this," he says.
Jan LaRue is chief counsel for Concerned Women for America. She describes the family-hour special as "nothing but a high-tech strip show with millions of children in the audience."
"Would CBS executives send their daughters or granddaughters down the runway knowing they will be lusted after by men across the country?" LaRue asks. "CBS [is making] a craven play for ratings during November sweeps -- and Victoria's Secret gets a prime-time infomercial just in time for Christmas."
The FCC received more than 900 complaints when ABC aired a Victoria's Secret fashion show last year. Pro-family groups were not pleased with the agency's response.
"It's unfortunate that the FCC has just turned a deaf ear to it in the past," Smith says, "but [we hope] this year there will be enough outrage from parents that they'll have to take a look at this and do something about it."
Smith's organization hopes its Internet-based Action Alert to supporters last week generates responses from thousands of individuals who are concerned about the content and broadcast time of the special.
Other pro-family groups are voicing their concern over the pending broadcast. Concerned Women for America has teamed with the Parents Television Council and the National Organization for Women to publicly rebuke CBS for airing the show.
The three groups penned a letter to Les Moonves, CBS president and CEO, accusing the network of "scraping the bottom of the barrel" just to lure young viewers. The letter also says the program "certainly will not be CBS's finest hour."
Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, says it is apparent that television executives are not concerned they are sending a dangerous message to young boys and girls about what makes women valuable.
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