Hardcore sponsors of Hannibal need to hear from you!

By: American Decency Staff

Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the sponsors of “Hannibal.”  (See advertiser information below).

This past Thursday was (thankfully) the season finale of NBC’s “Hannibal.”

While few viewers tuned in, “Hannibal” received rave reviews from the “media elite.”  I find it interesting, however, that even those showering “Hannibal” with critical acclaim can’t stomach the disturbing imagery and themes.  One very enthusiastic entertainment writer and reviewer – while praising “Hannibal” – admitted he himself has a difficult time watching the show. 

He writes:

“Watching any given episode of Hannibal can be something of an ordeal—intentionally so, I would argue. The camera lingers upon scenes of horrific violence and gore …

“Frankly, it can be punishing to watch more than one episode of Hannibal at a time. When NBC would send out multiple episodes on DVD, I almost always parceled them out by the day, enjoying what I was seeing but finding it difficult to (watch) … .  When I marathoned the season with my wife so she could get caught up, I often had to look at anything else to keep from being overwhelmed.  …”

Since the show premiered on April 4 we have tracked the advertisers and encouraged you to contact the sponsors.  Over that twelve week period, of the corporations you emailed via our “take action” links, the majority advertised only once or twice, and did not continue sponsoring “Hannibal” – in spite of what I’m sure were bargain basement advertising rates.  (With poor ratings, networks typically greatly reduce advertising rates to try to draw sponsors.)

Hannibal’s ratings fell week after week. Usually a show’s season finale will garner the show’s highest ratings of the season.  However, the ratings for last week’s episode of “Hannibal” were the lowest of the entire season!  Only 1.9 million Americans tuned in to watch the season finale and the episode garnered a pathetically low 0.7 demographic ratings share. 

During the same timeslot of “Hannibal,” CBS was airing a repeat episode of one of their dramas.  The CBS rerun drew 5.6 million viewers – nearly three times as many as a first-run episode of Hannibal!

In all of our years of television monitoring, we have never seen a network renew a television program with such terrible ratings.  However, as we reported last week, NBC has renewed this sickening show for an additional 13 episodes to air in 2014. 

And while many advertisers chose not to align their corporate name with such a controversial show, a handful of regular sponsors empowered “Hannibal.”  Kohl’s, which had been a regular sponsor, did eventually pull their ads – as we were pleased to report recently. 

However, the following companies all advertised multiple times throughout this season of “Hannibal” – General Mills (Yoplait yogurt); Ford; Home Depot; Honda; Lens Crafters; Macy’s; Mazda; Olive Garden; T-Mobile; Toyota; Unilever (Sauve, Vaseline, Dove products); VISA; Warner Brothers;  and –the most frequent advertisers – Chevrolet; Microsoft; and Chattem (ACT mouthwash, Allegra, & Gold Bond products).

Obviously, these corporations have no problem with empowering such disturbing violence and sickening cannibalistic imagery – if it helps them make a buck.  These companies need to continue to hear from thousands of consumers to realize that their profiteering from such trash will cost them more than it will gain – as past and potential customers pledge not to do business with their company unless they change their advertising policies.  Let’s send a strong message that demonstrates that it won’t pay to empower “Hannibal” next season.  

Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the sponsors of the season finale of “Hannibal.”  Most of the advertisers include the “hardcore” sponsors listed above.

Advertisers include:

Gold Bond – Chattem
Act mouthwash – Chattem
Chevrolet
Yoplait yogurt – General Mills
Honda
T-Mobile
Lexus (Toyota)
Mazda
Verizon Wireless
VISA
Warner Brothers
Energizer
Hotels.com
Behr Paint
Sealy Posturpedic
Zantac
Gatorade
Mitsubishi Motors
Parmount Pictures
Vet Guard
Ford (local ad)

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American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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