DICKSON, TN – Maybe it’s the incessant steel drums in the background or maybe it’s the gratuitous sex – but something about those late night Girls Gone Wild television commercials definitely has Tennessee State Senator Doug Jackson seeing red.Jackson, a Democrat from Dickson, TN, recently announced that he has introduced legislation that would make it a crime punishable by a fine of $50,000 for TV stations and cable companies to broadcast advertisements for “obscene products,” citing ads for Girls Gone Wild videos, specifically.
“If you have the television on at night, you can’t help but see these suggestive, disgusting commercials advertising a product that is clearly obscene in nature,” said Jackson, according to TheChattanoogan.com. “It’s a crime to sell an illegal product and it ought to be a crime to advertise it.”
Jackson’s bill, SB14, would make it a crime for television and cable companies knowingly advertise a product that is “obscene” or “harmful to minors” – terms for which the definitions are anything but crystal clear and that cover a wide range of possible materials.
Although the Girls Gone Wild ads Jackson so despises typically run late at night, and primarily on cable television, Jackson said “you never know when they’re coming on, and parents do their best,” according to the Dickson Herald.
“Companies that accept advertising dollars have an obligation to ensure that the products advertised are not harmful to minors,” Jackson said. “Commercials like those promoting Girls Gone Wild are clearly supporting an obscene product. These products are illegal under Tennessee law and we have a clear interest in preventing their advertising.”
Questioned about the imprecise definition of “obscene,” Jackson was dismissive of the issue.
“Seeing two naked girls kissing each other and bouncing in bed together… if somebody wants to come into Tennessee and argue that there’s some socially redeeming value to that, I think they have a hard case to make,” Jackson added.
Some legal experts aren’t persuaded that the issue is as cut and dry as Jackson suggests.
“This is an effort to try to shut down someone from free-speech activities… by hanging a threat over their heads,” said First Amendment attorney Doug Pierce, according to the Dickson Herald. “The First Amendment is no good if it doesn’t protect unpopular speech.”
Joe Baugh, former district attorney for Williamson County, told the Dickson Herald the Jackson’s proposed law would place an undue burden on broadcasters, forcing them to make a determination concerning what material could be construed as “obscene,” noting that it’s a hard call to make, given the nature of modern television programming.
“It may be the legislature wants to restrict the kind of advertising that Girls Gone Wild uses, but it doesn’t seem to be any worse or even as bad as what you see on cable TV,” observed Baugh. “It’d be like him saying you can’t run The Sopranos in Tennessee.”
Jackson’s bill may be of considerably less concern to Girls Gone Wild owner Joe Francis than the more pressing affair of his own sentencing for 2257 record keeping violations.
Francis is scheduled to be sentenced today by a U.S. District Judge who must first decide whether the court will accept the plea bargain struck by Francis and the U.S. Department of Justice in September of last year.
Under the agreement, Francis agreed to personally pay a fine of $500,000 on top of the $1.6 million dollar fine levied against his company, Mantra Films.
Francis and Mantra are reportedly appealing a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak that added the requirement that Francis and several other Mantra company executives perform eight hours of community service per month for the next 30 months.
