Kraft Wears Hallmark's 'Crown'

Kraft Foods is one TV advertiser definitely not buying spots anytime soon in MTV's Skins.

The company was the recipient Monday of the Parents Television Council/Hallmark Channel Crown award (Hallmark's logo) for making "family-friendly TV advertising choices."

Kraft is also a long-time sponsor of Hallmark movies and specials -- Hallmark's Hall of Fame specials have been airing for some 60 years, the most recent being Sunday's Lost Valentine on CBS, which CBS said Tuesday was the highest-rated scripted programming of the week in total viewers and the highest-rated Hall of Fame special in four years.

It is the fourth annual award given out by PTC and Hallmark. The award recognized not only Kraft's focus on family programming, said Hallmark president Bill Abbott, but that long-standing sponsorship of Hallmark programming.

On the other end of the spectrum, as far as PTC is concerned, are advertisers in Skins, the MTV show about teen sex and drug use that has seen advertisers flee in the wake of their own independent content reviews and pressure from PTC to exit the show.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.