7 Up Pulls Prison Rape Ad


Fri, May 24, 2002 04:31 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - For the first time in its 73-year history, the makers of the 7 Up soft drink have pulled a TV commercial off the air based on criticisms that it contained objectionable content, reports Reuters.

The decision to yank the commercial came after complaints sprouted up from a convicts rights group which disliked the spot's allusions to jail rape.

The cancelled commercial is set in prison and features the drink's spokesman Godfrey pitching the drink to inmates. At one point, Godfrey walks down a row of cells and hands a can of the drink to each prisoner. When he accidentally drops one though, he remarks, "I'm not picking that up."

In the spot's final shot, Godfrey is shown inside a cell with a burly-looking inmate who has his arm draped around him.

"When you drink 7 Up, everyone is your friend," says Godrey, which prompts the inmate to tighten his grip.

"OK, that's enough being friends," says the comedian.

"This commercial was perpetuating the kind of callousness that allows sexual abuse to continue in so many prisons virtually unchecked," says Stop Prison Rape Executive Director Lara Stemple. "We're very glad to hear that 7 Up has decided to stop sending out the message that it's OK to laugh about rape when it involves people in prison."

The prisoner rights group says that men in women in prison are routinely raped and sexually brutalized. That causes them "serious physical and psychological injury," says Stemple. "Unfortunately, jokes about rape in prison have become alarmingly common, but sexual violence is occurring in prison right now, to real people, causing real suffering."

Philippa Dworkin, a spokeswoman for Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, which is a unit of UK-based Cadbury Schweppes, says the ad tested well with audiences and has been running for about two months with no other complaints.

"We listened to what they had to say," she says. "They had some very valid points about the ad being able to be interpreted a different way from what we intended."


Wait a minute...we're now worried about offending prisoners? How would they know such a commercial exists? Oh, that's right they get cable (or have they moved up to Direct TV now). And even though they can see the commercial, what are they going to do? Boycott 7-UP, and switch to Sprite?

Up next...PETA goes after Geiko and Blockbuster for forcing animals to perform for human's entertainment.
And before someone jumps on me...yes I understand rape is a serious thing.

iwsnt the one with making out in the car more offensive, especially to parents because of sexual inuendos.

That really sucks. I happened to like the prison ad. I thought it was funny. Oh, to interject my own opinion....typically prisoners(in prison, not jail) get what they deserve.

Prisoners SHOULD be raped. Brutally. Prisons are meant to be punitive, as a disincentive to commit crimes. They shouldn't be these nice little vacation spots with exercize yards and TV rooms and conjugal visits. Prisons should be as uncomfortable and dehumanizing as can be gotten away with, so that people tremble with fear over the thoughts of commiting a crime and risking prison, and people who HAVE been in prison fear a return so much that they never commit crimes again.

Make prison an utter living hell.

Thanks Darren for those comments. At least I know one person in the world feels the way I do!

Of course. Those people who were caught with pot a few times deserve no less

I, for one, thought the commercial was funny.

Why the hell would anyone care what a soda commercial displays. Yeah...we have some weird people in the world...

I didn't now George W. was posting here!

Yep. Maybe then they would then give up the garbage. And don't think for one SECOND that I do or will ever give even the least single iota of a shred of respect for some piece of ess ahe eye tee pothead.

And as for the George W comment, I disagree with that half-wit on 99.9% of everything he ever says or does, but I do agree with him on one thing. The rights and saftey of non-criminals should be in NO WAY be limited or comprimised by trying to pamper the scum of society. If people commit major crimes, leave them in prison for the rest of their lives, don't give them a slap on the wrist and let them out to commit crimes again! If someone commits an especially violent crime, execute them! Every moment that they continue to live is a direct insult to their victims.

If that isn't politically correct enough for you, then I wear your scorn as a badge of honor.

Hmm...does this include those in prison awaiting trial? How about a first time shoplifter? DUI? DWI? Man who gets a hooker? Assault during a small bar fight?

oh........umm......ok.......so make all prisoners so psychologically damaged that when their terms are up they have so much hatred and contempt for the world that they go on killing sprees....
gee....THAT seems safe for society.

I think this is the scariest thing I have ever read on DVDTalk.

Don't wander into the Other forum very often, huh?

Maybe you should watch the prison shows on TLC and Discovery and find out what "open population" prisons are like from the prisoner's perspective. It isn't all TV and weight lifting like you think. It is a dangerous place to be. Makes the people not want to come back. Privelidges in them are earned. The prisoners PAY for the TV that they watch. Nothing is free, even in jail.

Who are these "non-criminals" of which you speak? If you've never committed a crime, you are likely the first. And if so, you should ammend your statement to reference the "non-criminal" (singular).

das

I've never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never murdered anyone, never used even the mildest of illegal drugs (not even underage alcohol or in fact any alcohol at any point in my past, present, or future). I have never done anything that would remotely justify a prison sentence.

If you think everyone is a criminal, well I pity you and I pity the low class of garbage you must be around.

Once again, good, decent people shouldn't be prisoners in their own homes because gargabe is allowed to run free on the streets. If you are in prison (prison-- not jail, not awaiting trial-- sentenced to prison) should have the greatest degree of misery that can be inflicted on them without having the UN come knocking down our doors. Make everyone be in utter terror of crime.

nope I don't. It takes up too much of my time to just read all the posts of interest in the dvdtalk/reivews/international/bargain/movie/clubs/tv forums that I rarely venture into anyplace else.
I wish faster internet connections didn't cost so much. I'm only a lowly poor medical student.

As this is TV Talk, I direct you to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 'Justice' in which a planet employs the very tactics you describe. In fact, the fear of getting caught committing a crime is so great that only a small police force needs police the entire planet. They randomly select a sector to patrol, and no one knows which sector is being patrolled at any time, but no one is willing to risk committing a crime, even if the chances of getting caught are nominal. Thankfully, they've never falsely convicted someone of a crime ... or have they.

As for pitying me and the low class of garbage I am around, thanks, but I sleep well without it. In fact today, I went 60mph in a 55mph zone. I'm not against capital punishment for capital crimes, but some crimes are not worthy of "the greatest degree of misery." Our criminal justice system isn't so black and white, and it's far from perfect. Such absolutes go against everything this country is about, and I don't think I'm ready to blindly foreit everyone's rights to human decency just yet.

das

If prison rape is okay, what about regular rape? I'm sure that the whole concept of prisoners getting what they deserve is easily applicable to women who dress like sluts and hang out in seedy bars.

Right on das! I agree completely. I find it hard to believe Darren that you've never done anything "that would remotely justify a prison sentence". Have any mp3's on your computer? Any pirated software? Ever Xerox a copy of something without the author's written consent? Ever gone 1 mph over the speed limit? Ever come to a rolling stop at a stop sign? Not filled out your census forms? Protested over an economic policy? You get the picture. I don't care who you are, EVERYONE at some point in their lives has either broken a law or been in a grey area where the legal system is concerned. People get sent to prison for much less all the time. To say that people should somehow be stripped of all humanity once they've comitted any crime regardless of what it is just asinine. That's the sort of ass backwards thinking that makes people fly 747's into skyscrapers so that they can cleanse the world of infidels.

I don't want to live in a society where people blindly follow the laws without any critical thought whatsoever any more than I want to live in a society with rapists, murderers and thieves.

There's a guy in jail right now because he dared to talk openly about Adobe's weak encryption methods. He should be raped? Too many parking tickets. Raped.
Throwing a wild party? Raped.
Caught going 20+ over the speed limit? Raped.
Walking home intoxicated? Raped.

Most Americans dont go a month without commiting some sort of crime. And a lot of those crimes can carry jail time. We all should be raped?

D

But you people all mention weak crimes, the kind that sends you to Holiday Inn Pen for a couple of months... what about the murderers, rapists, pedophile... do you think they deserved to be kept safe in jail, let THEM live in fear for a few hundred years, like they said, they deserve no better.

Sure, but that's not what I responded to. I responded to the comment "The rights and saftey of non-criminals ..." pointing out that there's no such thing as a "non-criminal" (except of course Darren Garrison, who -- since he doesn't waste his time committing crimes -- has plenty left to pity me and the low class garbage I associate with). Many people in prison have forfeited their rights to the privileges afforded to us as American citizens, but I'm not in favor of such absolutes as all people in prison have no claim to their humanity. But then, I'm one of those wacky people that maintains the following belief: just because someone forfeits his rights as a human, it does not directly follow that I have the right to treat him inhumanely.

I'm not opposed to capital punishment for capital crimes, nor do I think prison should be a happy place for anyone, but considering the flaws in our criminal justice system and the vast array of criminal activity that could warrant a jail sentence, I'm not ready to sacrifice the integrity of our nation just to make sure certain people get what they deserve. There's a reason we hold certain axioms in such high regard: innocent until proven guilty, for it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than convict 1 innocent man. Hey, it sucks that there are monsters in this world, but I don't think that justifies such absolutes as were being posted in this thread.

das

How long has this been a joke? People have been laughing about rape in prison for years!! It happens. People should be more offended by the crimes that got them put in prison instead of a commercial making fun of what goes on there. If you don't want to get raped in prison, don't do anything that is going to put you there. Prison rape is just one more thing added to your sentence. You kill someone, then you should have to bunk with Big Bubba every single day for your entire sentence. Every time he loves on you then you can think about what you did wrong to end up in this position. I have no sympathy at all for convicts.

Cat

I think prison rape is very funny. As in ha-ha funny.