Philly Promo Shot Down

Fox affiliate WTXF Philadelphia is in hot water for a controversial promotion, says Huffington Report. Anchors Clayton Morris and Sue Serio apologized on-air when a promotion involving giving away a bullet-riddled jacket to hype the film Shoot ‘Em Up was poorly received in some circles. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jill Porter wondered about the timing of the Good Morning Philadelphia giveaway, as the city has been hit hard by gun deaths of late. 

She writes: But I still had to ask whether the station thought it appropriate to hawk a bullet-torn jacket when the city is up to its neck in bullet-riddled bodies?

Two months ago, the station also got the wrong kind of attention when an anchor repeatedly used the N-word, albeit to make a point about the forbidden word, in a story meeting.  

Faux bullet-riddled jacket giveaways…good clean promo fun, or something more sinister?

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.