Surprise! Nickelodeon Makes Pride Month Promo

From the perspective of a millennial, LGBT culture is very interesting to read and talk about. Of course, much that goes on in Pride parades in particular is very R-rated, but if they want to be as outrageous as they can – and have fun while doing so, then so be it. Also, most people in the LGBT community are good people. They live different lives than the majority of the country do, and all this community wants is the same rights as straight Americans. That in itself is something we should accept as a country. However, what we should avoid is imposing that view on those too young to know about it.

Unfortunately, the folks at Nickelodeon (surprise!) didn’t get the message. This space had pointed out how the struggling tween-oriented network injected anti-gun politics into the low-rated Kids’ Choice Awards this past March. But last week, they politicized their brand again in the form of a promo for Pride Month:

The content of the promo talking about being yourself was fine, but the rainbow flag was when things went too far. You shouldn’t expect anything less from parent company Viacom, which does this with most of their networks on a daily basis. But, they have to understand that the network’s target audience of young people under the age of 13 is way too young to be knowing about LGBT culture. Even Disney Channel, which featured a gay teen in the series Andi Mack, didn’t resort to doing anything as blatant as this.

The network’s sharp turn to the left is part of the reason why it’s struggling. In fact, president Cyma Zarghami – who will be leaving this year after three decades at the network – is a committed liberal who supported failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, and has used the network to promote left-wing causes in the past. And there’s a reason why they’re so desperate at this point.

As previously demonstrated, Nickelodeon is a shadow of its former self. Like the Disney-owned sports network ESPN, the specialty network (as well as its two child-oriented rivals) has been struggling badly because of the advent of streaming video services. But the question is, how did this happen? Why did this once-popular network lose to streaming of all things? It could be partially because parents are hopefully noticing propaganda such as the recent Pride Month promo, and not allowing their kids to watch the network anymore.

Kid-friendly advertisers/promotional partners that have had relationships with Nick for a long time, like Nintendo, Mattel, and Kellogg’s, should be very careful next time they plan on airing commercials and/or doing promotions on the network. Their image shouldn’t be tarnished by advertising their product on a network that is openly advocating for liberal causes like this.

Again, there’s no problem with celebrating Pride Month or promoting tolerance to the LGBT community (not being tolerant to LGBT people is definitely not okay, no matter who you are). But there’s a time and a place for it, and a cable channel aimed at children – especially one that was once a cultural icon – is neither time nor place. Not to mention, stuff like this does nothing at all to help the cause of gay rights in the United States.

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