Failure™ Magazine

Does proposed legislation actually ban Girls Gone Wild ads?

Written by Jason Zasky as part of Failure Analysis

February 10, 2010 — This morning the Associated Press published an article proclaiming that there’s a bill advancing in the Tennessee legislature that would ban “obscene” late-night TV ads like those for Girls Gone Wild videos. But I took a peek at the bill summary, and if I’m reading it correctly, the bill would appear to create an exception that permits providers to continue showing Girls Gone Wild ads.

The measure is being sponsored by Democratic Sen. Doug Jackson of Dickson. Jackson says he got the idea for the bill after seeing partially censored commercials for Girls Gone Wild videos, which depict college-age girls disrobing and acting out sexual situations.

But at some point, perhaps Jackson—or the authors of the bill summary—got distracted by jiggling young girls. The bill summary introduction reads: “As introduced [SB 0257] prohibits cable television or satellite television company from advertising or promoting material that it knows to be obscene or harmful to minors.” Sounds good. The summary goes on to note that under current law it is a class A misdemeanor to “knowingly sell, loan, or otherwise exhibit or make available to a minor” certain [obscene] visual, audio or printed matter. Then it concludes that it’s a Class A misdemeanor “for a cable or satellite television company to knowingly transmit or cause to be transmitted in this state any advertising” [of prohibited material] “(1) … unless transmitted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;” or “(2) … unless transmitted between midnight and 6:00 a.m.

I’m no expert on Girls Gone Wild commercials, but don’t these ads run exclusively on late-night TV? Are the legislators hoping to look tough on smut while at the same time creating an exception that effectively permits it? Am I misreading the statutory language? Or just incoherent after a late night out?

Ah well, perhaps it doesn’t matter. This measure has failed in the last two legislative sessions, and there’s no indication that it will fare better the third time around.