Two advertisers have dropped their campaigns from an American
teen drama, after one of the characters became a lesbian.
Pretty Little Liars, which airs on ABC Family in the US and
MTV in the UK, became the target of a campaign by the Florida
Family Association after character Emily Fields played by Shay
Mitchell, was revealed to be a lesbian.
The FFA claim that the show, who's audience is primarily 12-18
year old girls, are being sent a message "that reinforces and
legitimises this homosexual lifestyle in a manner that could affect
these young girls' sexual identity for a lifetime."
General Mills responded to the group's notification and later
officially pulled its advertising from the show.
However, a spokeswoman for the cereal giant told website After
Ellen that the lesbian content was not the reason for the company's
decision.
"We make advertising decisions based on the audience demographic
reach of a program and relevance for our brands, and we make
changes to our ad buys all the time," she wrote in an email to the
website. "That should not be misinterpreted. The decision is
entirely based on the relevance of the show's audience for our
brands, not because of the sexual orientation of individual
characters."
