Word: rakolta
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...issue leaped to the fore two weeks ago, when a Michigan housewife, Terry Rakolta, became an instant celebrity for her successful letter-writing campaign against the bawdy Fox network sitcom Married . . . With Children. Responding to her complaints, several major advertisers, including Kimberly- Clark and Procter & Gamble, said they would no longer run ads on the show because of its "offensive" content. The sitcom -- Fox's highest-rated show -- is in no mortal danger: ad time is sold out for the season, Fox officials say, and only one company, Tambrands, actually canceled a scheduled commercial because of Rakolta's complaints...
...trouble is: Whose definition of quality? Campaigns against "tasteless" shows usually come from the most conservative elements of American society. One pressure group, Christian Leaders for Responsible TV, is making plans to monitor TV programming this spring and to organize a boycott of major sponsors of "anti-Christian" shows. Rakolta's objections to Married . . . With Children managed to miss totally the show's satirical point. This sitcom family -- male-chauvinist husband, unliberated wife, sluttish teenage daughter -- is being lampooned by exaggeration. The same sort of complaints -- just as misguided -- were launched against the bigoted Archie Bunker in the early 1970s...
...crusade began in January, when Terry Rakolta, a mother of four, first tuned in to Married . . . With Children because the title seemed to promise wholesome family entertainment. Instead, Rakolta discovered the raucous and sometimes raw adventures of the Bundy family. Horrified by the sexual and scatological humor, Rakolta became an avid monitor of the program and began sending its advertisers hundreds of protest letters...
...woman crusade has had dramatic results. Kimberly-Clark, McDonald's and Tambrands have asked their ad agencies to pull their commercials from Married. Coca-Cola has promised to screen future episodes. Says Rakolta: "It restores my faith in the big American product companies...