The World Wrestling Federation is toning down its oft-violent and raunchy UPN grappling showcase after several high-profile advertiser defections.
All it took was Coca-Cola to end its two-year sponsorship deal, the U.S. Army to pull its recruiting ads and AT&T, Mars and Wrigley to yank their spots from WWF Smackdown! to get the wrestling organization to shape up.
"If our advertisers are saying 'we'd like you to tone this down for broadcast,' we're flexible enough to do this," WWF head honcho Vince McMahon tells the Wall Street Journal.
"You'll see less aggression, less-colorful language, less sexuality," he vows. "Some of the more-controversial characters may not appear on a regular basis." Additionally, future Smackdown! installments will aim for the advertiser-friendly TV-PG rating, compared to its previous TV-14 rating.
When the new look Smackdown! debuts Thursday, McMahon and his WWF tag-teamers will hope toned-down doesn't equal turned-off. See, the core audience for the highly rated wrestling hijinks (it's UPN's top-rated program), males aged 18-34, tend to like the racier stuff.
But family-friendly companies like Coke have taken heat from the conservative TV watchdog group the Parents Television Council for sponsoring such shenanigans. The beverage giant severed its advertising ties with the WWF last month, saying wrestling shows like Smackdown! and the WWF's cable-based RAW is WAR had too much objectionable content.
Coke, which still advertisers on Ted Turner's rival WCW (traditionally less risqué than the more established, higher rated WWF), says it may reconsider its WWF boycott if the wrestling group really does clean up its image. Other ex-advertisers, such as AT&T, say they'll remain on the sidelines for good, though.
Fiscally, however, Smackdown! is hardly hurting. Burger King remains a staunch sponsor, and RC Cola, along with several movie studios and video-game makers, quickly plugged the advertising hole left by Coke.
Still, the advertising defections are the latest in a bad PR year for the WWF. The organization drew fire for the death of wrestler Owen Hart during a stunt gone way wrong, and a highly publicized lawsuit brought by female grappler Sable focusing attention on the WWF's alleged sexist practices. (The suit was later settled.) Even the WWF's highly touted stock offering was overshadowed when Martha Stewart, whose company went public the same day, attracted more investors.