OMFG U R SO FULL OF SH...
You know, I'm not even slightly prudish, and Lord only knows that I'm inclined to swear like a sailor. But this pegged my bullshit-meter into the red.
Brooke Anderson at CNN interviewed Rick Haskins, the executive vice president of marketing for the CW television network, about a new ad campaign for their popular teen drama "Gossip Girl," about randy debutants in New York City. If you haven't seen it, imagine The O.C. or Beverly Hills 90210 set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It's flashy and trashy, but it's really no different than any of the prime-time soap crap we've been polluting ourselves since Dynasty and Dallas. That's not the problem, from where I'm sitting.
The CW's new ad campaign features posters of two teens locked in a pretty obviously carnal embrace, which on its own was enough to send Puritan ninnies like the Parents Television Council into the stratosphere over the usual problems -- the glorification of people using their genitals for pleasure rather than just the sober creation of new life, and daring to do so on television, where children might be watching, because, you know, the TV is a cheap babysitter.
But what jacked them up even further was the CW's decision to use the Internet acronym OMFG -- Oh My F**king God -- in the ad as well.
When Anderson interviewed Haskins, he coyly defended the use of the acronym, and suggested that if you ask ten different people what it means, you'll get ten different responses. Seriously. That's what this guy said. Haskins is smirking as he delivers this galling line of horsecrap.
I can't quite tell if that smile is the cat who ate the mouse -- a Hollywood studio exec knowing that he's getting free air time for his ad campaign and will come out smelling like a rose regardless of what happens -- or someone who's being forced to eat shit on national TV and pretend that it's filet mignon.
What I do know is that he's too goddamn old for that haircut. Brand Yourself, indeed. What happens when the brand you've created is "Asshole™?"
Anderson's straw poll of people on the street reveals a pretty uniform and consistent understanding of what OMFG actually stands for.
Listen, I'm not one to restrict free speech in advertising or anywhere else in our country, but there's an issue of basic corporate responsibility here. For Pete's sake, CW. Grow up and act like adults, even if your job is to pander to kids.