Just why Fox ever considered airing an interview entitled “If I Did It” with accused murderer O.J. Simpson still leaves media buyers perplexed.
But they’re nothing short of ecstatic that News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch abruptly killed the project yesterday, ending six days of public outrage.
Media people who spoke to Media Life yesterday, just minutes after News Corp. announced it was canceling the show, expressed relief that the two-part special would not air.
As media buyers, they worried that their clients' ads might end up airing next to promotions for the special, but like the vast majority of the American public, they also were morally offended by the content of the interview.
"I think they made the right move, they averted a public relations nightmare," said one media veteran. "It was in horribly bad taste."
In axing the O.J. special and book, Murdoch came down on the side of taste.
“I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said a statement released by Murdoch yesterday, in which he also canceled publication of a Simpson book by News Corp.’s HarperCollins. Murdoch also apologized to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the two murder victims.
The interview was being used to promote the now-canceled book, in which Simpson detailed how he might have gone about killing his ex-wife and her friend, if he had in fact done so. He was acquitted of their murders in 1995 and has consistently denied killing them. Nonetheless, the book's publisher, Judith Regan, has consistently described the book as a confession.
The Simpson special, which was to air Nov. 27 and 29 at the end of November sweeps, became an instant headache to media people the moment it was announced. A dozen affiliates said they would not air the interview, and still more were waiting to see a preview of the interview before deciding.
Public sentiment was clearly against it. Nearly 50,000 people signed a petition protesting the book and show on a site set up by Goldman’s family, and 55 percent of respondents to a CNN poll found the book offensive. Another 30 percent termed it inappropriate.
Media people agreed that virtually no one would have advertised on the program.
“I was less surprised that Fox dropped it than that they would seriously consider airing it," says Karen McCallum, media director at Esparza Advertising in Albuquerque, N.M. "My first reaction when they pitched me was, none of my advertisers could risk being associated with something this controversial no matter how high the rating.”
That Fox would even consider such a project tells media people just how desperate the network had become at this point in the season and November sweeps. None of its new shows have caught on, and three have already been yanked.
Though “House” is thriving, “The OC” has declined sharply. Through the first two weeks of sweeps, Fox has averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating, down 10 percent from a 3.1 at the same point last year.
“It was just ratings, plain and simple,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research at Horizon Media, explaining why Fox had chosen to air the special.
“It was sweeps stunt. Fox, as it has in the past few seasons, had a very lackluster fourth quarter, they’ve had a very lackluster November sweeps, it’s fourth among 18-49s, no new shows are really bringing in the viewers they hoped for, [it had] the lowest-rated World Series of all time. I mean, how often can you count on 'American Idol' and '24' to bail you out?”
Fox has resorted to similarly outrageous stunts in the past.
Past shows like “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire” and “Temptation Island” have similarly pushed the boundaries of good taste, though often drawing lots of viewers.
John Padgett, media director at Hauser Group in Atlanta, previously worked at Coca-Cola, where he says the company had long warned Fox away from such cheesy sweeps stunting. The message: “‘Guys, please, no more of this stuff.’ We didn’t want to advertise with it.”
Padgett doubts Fox had found any advertisers for the Simpson special and likely received pressure to pull it from advertisers wary of having their product in any way associated with the special.
“Look at the affiliates, where during a local break somebody runs [next to an O.J. promo] by accident, and all of a sudden their business is in jeopardy. It’s just bad,” he says.
“It’s just an indecent thing to put on television. Fox realized, ‘We did this 10 years ago when we had to, we don’t really have to do this [now], do we?’”
