AFL complains over “distasteful” Ben Cousins promos
Seven is "all about ratings and exploitation," says disappointed AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.
- Published by David Knox
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The AFL has lodged an official complaint to Seven over promos for its upcoming Ben Cousins documentary.
Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins is set to screen soon on Seven depicting the AFL ‘bad boy.’
“I am just disappointed with the way it has been promoted,” AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said this morning on 3AW.
“I think the Seven Network has been pretty ordinary with the way they have put it up on their ads, in Packed for the Rafters, which is a family program.
“They certainly did that without our knowledge. They were supposed to work with us in the way it was going to be promoted.
“I found that pretty distasteful.
“We have (complained to Seven), but they are all about ratings and exploitation.”
The promo includes Cousins admitting he is a drug addict, dancing while appearing to be on drugs and tearful interviews with his family.
Talkback radio callers, including parents of drug victims, have also criticised the scenes in the promos.
Nevertheless, Demetriou recommended the documentary despite its confronting scenes.
The Herald Sun’s Mike Sheahan, who was interviewed twice for the doco, said: “It will be compelling viewing: revealing, explosive in part and terribly sad, yet uplifting in its own way.”
Source: The Age, Herald Sun
15 Responses
See my tiny, tiny violin AFL? I am playing it for you right now.
@RO: Ta.
(Go The Dockers!)
Andrew Demetriou has never liked channel 7 if he had his way he would choose channel 9 & eddie.
Demetriou just needs to build a bridge & get over it. Ben Cousins is a great player i don’t know what the fuss is about. Everyone’s not perfect
The fact is this is life, this happens, this is reality and yes it is confronting but its what people need to see instead of everything being cotton balled and made to look perfect. The AFL is annoyed because they want this perfect image that makes all their players God and put up on some pedestal. The fact is they are not, they are far from it. I have worked in drug and alcohol counselling and the way to deal with it these problems is to get awareness out their, to show people it happens and these are the consequences instead of trying to sweep them under the carpet. During Packed to the Rafters is an ideal time, hopefully you might get teens talking about it and asking parents what is going on and its a way of bringing it up and for your children to see the ugly side of what many think is cool. Lets hope this has that affect on some people and makes them think twice before going down that path after seeing how destructive that type of activity can be.
I have to agree with andrew, i’m a west coast fan and i used to love cousins in our team but this doco is just pathetic!
What’s to stop people thinking they can get away with it since he did for yrs?
The promos are disgusting! cousins off his face dancing in his undies!
Seven really aren’t doing themselves any favours in trying to win the new tv rights. There’s this incident, not showing Friday night games live, the naming of the players/team testing positive to drugs a few years ago. As much as i hate Nine and Eddie McGuire, if they’re gonna show footy live, then stuff Seven. Personally i’d give it all to Ten/One
“(Seven Network) are all about ratings and exploitation.”
Quoted for truth.
Channel Seven did not commission this documentary. The program was independently produced and shopped around the networks before Seven bought the rights. Had another network snapped it up and made a similar promo would you complain about it too?
Typical AFL. They want everything covered up to con the public into thinking it’s a scandal free sport played by saints.
@Secret Squïrrel – Sydney viewer here, I’ve seen the promo a couple of times
i havent seen this promotion for the upcoming documentary, hopefully it will be educational from a point of view of why people should not get into drugs and abuse any substance. If this documentary achieves this then more power to 7 network and Ben but if it does the oposite then this wont be a good thing. Besides if any of the other networks won the rights to broadcast this doco then they would be doing the same. It is a bit rich of the AFL ceo to whine about this seeing how they have taken the money from seven in 2006. So if any sporting ceos out there want to whine about something similar to this in the future the solution is simple then dont take there money when the broadcast rights are up for grabs. But we know that will never happen. Money makes the capitalist world go around.
if you want to do something about this andrew. ban them from making a bid on the next rights, instead of making weak complaints all the time
it this just a blatant exercise in promotion itself? when they agreed to do a doco surely they were not so ignorant to know that it would be promoted.
“in Packed for the Rafters, which is a family program.”
is he saying he wanted it only shown in all of 7’s shows about drugs&alchohol?
anyway this seems to be generating a lot of talk and media attention since that promo, it should do well.
I haven’t seen the ad so I don’t know how inappropriate or in poor taste it was, but I wonder how large the overlap is between PttR viewers and those who would be likely to watch a confronting documentary about an AFL star. Did the ad air in Syd / Bris?
The relationship with Seven and the AFL seems a little strained to me. But in the end it is about who can cough up the most money for the next broadcast deal. Seven wont loose their AFL without a fight.