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Sponsors drop Footy Show ads

The ANZ Bank and The Age have dropped all advertising on Nine’s Footy Show.

The rare move follows the show’s recent comments on women in football, triggered by an incident from Sam Newman.

The ANZ will continue its current commercial agreement with the network but has directed that its ads not be aired during the program.

“We are not currently running adverts on The Footy Show. It was a commercial decision, as The Footy Show in its current format does not allow us to connect well with the customer base,” an ANZ spokeswoman told The Age.

Advertisers respond in this way in Aussie television, but that hasn’t stopped some lobby groups, particularly conservative Christian groups from calling for a boycott of shows like Big Brother, Californication and The L Word.

QUT Associate Professor Alan McKee can also recall an outrage during Number 96.

“Christian groups complain when they see programs they think are too progressive. This is the first time I can remember that an advertiser has objected because a show is too regressive,” he said.

In the 1970s, as far as McKee can recall, advertisers objected to the portrayal of frank sexuality, including nudity and homosexuality, on television programs such as the long-running soap, Number 96.

The ANZ’s promotion for a debit card had been running during the show in Brisbane and Perth before the ANZ requested at the beginning of this month that the ads be placed elsewhere.

The Age has also redirected its advertising on Nine away from The Footy Show this week in response to an attack on the paper and its staff by Newman.

Channel Nine declined to comment, saying that matters between the network and its advertisers were confidential.

Source: The Age

3 Responses

  1. ‘”Christian groups complain when they see programs they think are too progressive.”‘

    What a twerp. He means offensive to these groups. What a loaded sentence.

    Having said that, one wonders why these groups bother with boycott pleas, it just generates more ratings for the shows they’re attempting to kill.

  2. Sam Newman’s reaction to The Age dropping advertising from The AFL Footy Show…

    Sam Newman opened the program last night reading the Herald Sun, and referred to The Age as “The Pig” while praising the Herald Sun, right down to obscure things like the newspaper’s size.

    I would say (even though I live in Queensland where the program airs at midnight) based on last night’s opener David, things are going to get worse before they get better for the AFL Footy Show.

  3. So silly, a chance to confront and tackle the social issues of the game and people run and hide. The guys a tool but at least he is exposing a vein of the game that needs to be updated and changed.
    A chance to inject some real change into some old ideals and no one is willing to go it (him) head on!

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