VH1’s ‘Sorority Sisters’ canceled? Twitter backlash against VH1’s ‘Sorority Sisters’ prompts advertisers to pull out.
The premiere of VH1’s controversial new reality show “Sorority Sisters” was met with an overwhelming negative reaction on Twitter.
From the Washington Post:
Now, after pressure from the show’s critics, who say it portrays black Greek life in a negative light, some advertisers are reconsidering airing ads on the network.
Carmex announced that it would pull its ads from the network until VH1 cancels the program.
Hallmark, Honda, Crayola, JBL Audio and State Farm said it also has no plans to advertise during future episodes of the TV series.
A spokeswoman for Hallmark confirmed that the decision was made in response to public opposition to the show. The company, Linda Odell said in an e-mail, will not advertise during the show “because of consumer reaction to the program.”
A spokeswoman for Hallmark confirmed that the decision was made in response to public opposition to the show. The company, Linda Odell said in an e-mail, will not advertise during the show “because of consumer reaction to the program.”
Update: 3:50 p.m.: Several other advertisers including Honda, Crayola, and JBL, a subsidiary of Harman International, have also said they are pulling their ads from the show. State Farm has responded to inquiries saying that they do not air commercials during Sorority Sisters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzgQlRimreU
Sorority Sisters centers around the lives of nine Atlanta area women who are members of black sororities. Since the show was given a greenlight, it became the target of protests. People planned to boycott the new TV series (official hashtag: #BoycottSororitySisters) and members of black Greek organizations called the network to stop production of the series.
“A lot of [Black Greek Letter Organization] members were angry that their initial petition didn’t work, and that VH1 was trying to sneak the show into their lineup without much notice,” Lawrence Ross, who helped launched the boycott efforts, wrote in an e-mail to The Post. He noted that he “created a social media strategy that targeted the brands who are supporting the show, either explicitly through direct ads, or implicitly, as part of an ad block buy. I was sure that none of them would want to be part of a show that denigrated close to one million African American fraternities and sororities.”
VH1 reports that the first episode was seen by 1.3 million people and it was the number one show in that time slot.
“There are currently no plans to change the series and it seems to be connecting with its audience,” the network said through a spokeswoman.
“Due to the confidential nature of our agreements with our advertising partners, we never speak to specifics about clients and their media plans,” she added. “But we do enjoy successful, long-term partnerships with our advertisers and are happy to honor any requests to move spots to other parts of our schedule.”
The petition calling on VH1 to dump “Sorority Sisters” has garnered more than 67,000 signatures.
