Is MTV helping to promote naturism?

[Riot.EXE]

They were not naked - they had pixels over certain body parts.  It was okay to show the guys bare chested but not the females. 

If you're going to feature nudity in an advert, then have the decency to show it in a way which comports the subject positively, not as a figure of ridicule.

The advert wouldn't have worked without the "pizzazzy" censor bars...



Kinda like how that music video right there wouldn't have worked without the censor bars.

No one is being ridiculed in either video; everyone is actually pretty well adjusted and happy.  Censorship rules still exist so we're all going to have to deal with that, and womens chests are mysteriously (not really) more naughty to look at than a mans bare chest (but that's neither here nor there)...but at least some peeps got creative with the shit they were given (in this case, nudity behind censor bars), you know?  It's like you're seeing something that isn't there.

[Dario Western]

Censorship can totally stuff itself - rules are made to be broken, especially in the name of 'art' and 'human rights'.  I believe that the countries which govern the least govern the best.  Nudists need to fight the societal contamination that the human body is 'naughty' and 'dirty'.  Hence why I found the video that MTV made to be offensive to my sensibilities.

[Dan]

Hence why I found the video that MTV made to be offensive to my sensibilities.

You might have to revise your sensitivities.

MTV doesn't have to fight your battles and you shouldn't get offended when they don't. Their are busy running a TV channel and making money from it and there is no reason why we can expect them to fight the rules of censorship on nudity on TV.

By all means, we should cheer when people do something that tips the balance in our favour, like MTV did, but we have no right to complain that they didn't do enough, they have no duty to.

[Dario Western]

The problem with MTV and a lot of modern rock and pop music is that it has become bourgeouis.  Back in the 50's and 60's it was about rebellion against The Man, just like nudism was.  Over the years it has started becoming toothless and sucked up to the 'men in suits'.  That's not what rock'n'roll is about, hence why I lost respect for MTV years ago.

[Dan]

The problem with MTV and a lot of modern rock and pop music is that it has become bourgeouis.  Back in the 50's and 60's it was about rebellion against The Man, just like nudism was.  Over the years it has started becoming toothless and sucked up to the 'men in suits'.  That's not what rock'n'roll is about, hence why I lost respect for MTV years ago.

I don't think pop ever was about rebellion. There is no problem with MTV unless you don't expect them to act as a corporation. And what they do isn't even evil, they are simply not fighting your battles.

You might want to look at punk if you want some rebelling against The Man.

[Wolfboy]

Rock 'n Roll isn't the same kind of rebellion as what Punk is about but I have to say i agree with Dario Western that rebellion was a part of the fifties and sixties Rock 'n Roll scene.
For example, there was a time that even The Beatles were called "The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse" (the song Helter Skelter is one of the reasons why they were called like that).

Concerning MTV i can only say it's all about the money...

[Steggsaurus]

you can't really link MTV in with the notions of rebellion of rock n roll in the 50s and 60s.  MTV was born in the 1980s, the "me" decade and the era of "greed is good", and when the notion of being a "pop star" came to prominence.

i agree with Dan, expecting them to act as anything other than a corporation representing its own interests is an unreasonable expectation - they are only forward thinking and attacking the status quo when there is more money to be made in doing that than there is in toeing the line. 

hence, an advertising campaign which uses disguised/censored nudity gets noticed, so makes them money by generating interest... a campaign with uncensored nudity might get them some brief notoriety, but would be unairable on TV in most countries and would ultimately not get them as much exposure, and so would ultimately represent a waste of advertising money.

and that is disregarding the fact that the "censor bars" are used as part of the ad campaign, in keeping the slogans and brand identity on the screen for the maximum amount of time in a way that the viewer can't help but notice.

in short, this isn't art, or rebellion, it's commerce, and the only statement it is intended to make is "watch our channel and help us earn advertising revenue".

[Eric]

I love the english accent. It makes it sound fancier! I think the nudity is more of an attention getter more than anything. I wouldnt say "sex sells" for this. I think MTV in england has started to see nudity is more fun that dirty. People were having fun and smiling stripped down instead of trying to sell themselves, trying to get the audience steamy. hopefully more steps in this direction!

I object to the use of the word "dirty" but otherwise I think this is spot on, and reflective of a larger cultural attitude shift. Nudity is shifting from being associated with "shameful/wrong" to "fun".

It doesn't directly promote nudism, but it certainly helps.

[Wolfboy]

To be clear, i wasn't linking MTV with the notions of rebellion of Rock 'n Roll in the fifties and sixties
Although it would be nice if MTV would play some songs of that period instead of what they are playing now these days
And it would be even more nice if they would play more videos by bands like The Cars, The Buggles, Split Enz, Robert Palmer, Gerry Rafferty, Reo Speedwagon, The Pretenders, Pat Benetar, ..... like they did in the early days

[Riot.EXE]

To be clear, i wasn't linking MTV with the notions of rebellion of Rock 'n Roll in the fifties and sixties
Although it would be nice if MTV would play some songs of that period instead of what they are playing now these days
And it would be even more nice if they would play more videos by bands like The Cars, The Buggles, Split Enz, Robert Palmer, Gerry Rafferty, Reo Speedwagon, The Pretenders, Pat Benetar, ..... like they did in the early days

They Do...MTV has a fuckton of genre-specific music channels, but you have to pay mad cash for that kind of Cable.

[Wolfboy]

They Do...MTV has a fuckton of genre-specific music channels, but you have to pay mad cash for that kind of Cable.

I rather spend my money on official band dvd's, that way i can watch my favorite bands whenever i want without the annoying commercials every 10 minutes

[Riot.EXE]

They Do...MTV has a fuckton of genre-specific music channels, but you have to pay mad cash for that kind of Cable.

I rather spend my money on official band dvd's, that way i can watch my favorite bands whenever i want without the annoying commercials every 10 minutes

Yeah, basically.

[Eric]

Um - even in the 50's and 60's, Rock N'Roll and pop music were heavily marketed and promoted by "the man", who got rich off of all those middle class, white, "rebelling" teenagers who thought that because their parents didn't like it they must be overthrowing a social order... or something. I never quite got that. Personally, I find it kind of weird that people equate listening to and buying music with "being rebellious", or worse "accomplishing something".

The rebels in the 60's were the ones marching on Washington for civil rights, or out there protesting Vietnam - not the hippies who went to Woodstock (as much fun as I'm sure that concert was). The rebels today are the ones who were protesting the Iraq war, or fighting for civil rights for homosexuals and women. They're not home watching MTV.

Funny how some things never change.

[beachboy]

aside from the corporate factor of MTV, the ad to me is about listening to music and having fun. No need to be getting worked up about the economics behind it. There are plenty of other things to get worked up about in the world, don't sweat the small stuff! Enjoy your music, have fun!

[Dan]

The issue reminds me of something that happened with Dell.

Dell ships tons of computers and those computers need to be packaged. This packaging costs Dell money. Some people will say it doesn't because "they just pass the cost to the customers" but other people who listened in economics 101 know that when customers will accept paying more, companies charge more and pocket the difference. So Dell would like to spend less in packaging and have more in its pockets. So they did a lot of research on how to reduce the amount of packaging they have to use without reducing the protection it offers the goods (because if the goods are broken, they lose money too).

So after a while, they came with a plan and cut on their packaging a lot. They got plenty of publicity and Greenpeace seeing that wanted some of that media attention too. Their reaction was something like this: DELL STILL ISN'T AS ECO-FRIENDLY AS WE WANT!!! RAGE RAGE RAGE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!

And this was a terrible reaction because you don't want to discourage companies moving the right direction from doing so. You don't want them to give them the choice between:

- Do nothing, stay under the radar
- Improve, get negative publicity

I think the same thing applies to MTV, they should be applauded for moving in the right direction, not criticized for not going far enough.