Tonight, BET will premiere "Hot Ghetto Mess" "We Got to Do Better" (here and here).
The name change is in response to the ruckus raised by Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters and the defection of sponsors.
No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, it’s still a pig. And BTW, this little piggy will follow “S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior).”
BET’s reversal illustrates the power of citizen journalism.
Past efforts by the National Pan-Hellenic Council to organize a boycott of BET’s socially offensive programming never got off the ground. Then as now, “many African Americans have been put off by its racy videos, risqué humor and reruns of old black sitcoms, and accused it of perpetuating black stereotypes.”
But today, corporations ignore citizen-generated outrage at their own peril.
The NAACP Youth Council, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the National Congress of Black Women, the National Organization for Women and others will hold watch parties to watch the commercials.
I'll publish the names and contact information for the shows’ advertisers in a future post. You can write and remind them of their responsibility to their customers.
In the meantime, let’s turn off the SOB BET.
