America 1982-Chapter 265 - 4: The Real Commodity of BT Television_2

"Until 1983, Mr. Hefner finally had enough after three consecutive years of dismally low ratings, replaced his channel head, who had no damn talent and only loyalty after following him for twenty years. He gave him severance pay to retire back in his hometown."

"After we brought in a professional television specialist, things started to improve. We had ten hours of broadcast time per day with about seven of our own programs, with the rest of the time filled with R-rated movies. Out of our own programs, three stood out and became phenomenon-level shows. Among the problematic ones were ’Six-Pack Abs,’ an outdoor reality show targeting adult female viewers, and ’Don’t Forget to Please Yourself Before You Pass Away,’ a mature adult travel program for older, well-off individuals."

"Many married women, upon watching ’Six-Pack Abs,’ saw other married women flirting and playing intimate games with strapping young men, and they couldn’t resist the temptation to have an affair as a treat to themselves. After the first season aired, statistics from one institution suggested that there were over seven hundred couples who divorced because of the wife’s infidelity, influenced by the show ’Six-Pack Abs.’

"The second program was no different. Many older men and women felt the message made sense: why not enjoy life while they still could? Inspired by the show, they started to imitate it. There was even an eighty-year-old man who partied for three days and nights in trashy Vegas and died of sudden death."

"There were women in their seventies who mustered the courage to become pornographic actresses, leaving behind an image they never revealed before, to the shame of their children."

"There were many such cases, and the most exaggerated one was a fellow in his sixties who, after watching the program, changed his nationality and faith, went off to a Middle Eastern country, and took several young and beautiful wives, causing his son, who thought he would inherit the fortune alone, to gain a bunch of brothers and sisters."

"Any rational person should understand that all this is due to their personal character flaws and has nothing to do with our programs. It’s like when the movie ’Superman’ was released, and some fool dressed like Superman and jumped off a building, trying to fly like the superhero, it’s not related to the movie; that guy was just an idiot."

"But that’s the way the world works. Though it may not be related to you, as soon as you achieve enviable success, trouble naturally follows. And, as expected, when they saw our advertising fees and ratings skyrocket, the troubles came knocking."

"Perhaps the peak sales of Playboy magazine, at seven million copies an issue, were frightening, with claims that every two men bought a Playboy, making people think the company was powerful. But in reality, it wasn’t big enough, and it was rickety. It’s just that the pornography magazine industry is too small and morally controversial, which the bigwigs who care about their reputation scorned. It’s well-known that from the ’60s to the present in ’87, Hugh Hefner firmly convinced everyone for nearly thirty years that he is an anti-feminist. Making adult magazines and opposing feminism isn’t a problem, but when he stepped into a new industry and tried to take a slice of other big companies’ pies, it was a deadly issue, especially after rejecting some television industry professionals’ offers for collaboration."

"After he refused to collaborate, various feminist organizations and some in the television industry began to deliberately magnify the social issues caused by those two homemade programs, accusing the Playboy channel of lacking social responsibility. Subsequently, a Senator whose relative was a television station owner, as expected, announced the establishment of a moral responsibility inquiry committee for the television industry’s entertainment programs in Congress."

"Actually, our public relations efforts had already kicked off once the public opinion emerged; we paid those news agencies that reported the news to pull their stories, including announcing our support for same-sex marriage, and had our Playmates quickly appear on various major television interview shows to talk about the company’s social responsibility and benefits for female employees in an attempt to change the narrative. But these weren’t important; what mattered was that the bigwigs needed to quickly settle. That is, Hugh Hefner and those stirring trouble needed to discuss cooperation or reconciliation. The other side generously gave a grace period; during this time, we suppressed the public opinion, and they did not intervene, possibly because they were already sitting at the negotiation table, thinking Mr. Hefner would definitely be willing to chat."

"Unfortunately, the truth was that Mr. Hefner, who was about to turn sixty, thought the television station should be built like when he founded Playboy magazine, without any need for collaboration. We advised him that the adult magazine business was an emerging industry back then; you could grow it on your own and be fearless because you were the pioneer and the industry’s bigwig, setting the rules. But in the television industry, you were a newcomer, and it would be best to play by the rules. In any industry, it’s all about compromise and deals. If they give you a cooling-off period, even if you don’t want to collaborate, at least sit down with them and provide a satisfying reason, instead of treating them like insignificant players."

"But Mr. Hefner had been in a position of power for so many years, and the flattery from countless beautiful women made him think he was invincible. Being stubborn and self-opinionated is a major taboo for those in high places. Anyway, the communication was extremely unpleasant, and it can even be described as embarrassing, because my direct superior, the campaign manager of a Governor, the Vice President of Public Relations for the television channel, cursed at Hefner in the meeting room: ’You’re nothing! Those television networks established in 1926 can screw you just like you screw those Playmates living in the Playboy mansion, no need to ask whether they’re willing, just strip them down and go at it.’