First political ads to air on MTV :: Culture Music News :: Articles

MTV viewers have been told to "Choose or Lose" for years, but never before have they been able to watch full-fledged political ads between installments of My Super Sweet Sixteen. At least, not until recently. MTV has confirmed that it will now allow official advertisements from political candidates and campaign committees on its airwaves.

"In each presidential election cycle, there has been increasing engagement among young people," said Jeannie Kedas, executive vice president of communications for MTV's music networks, the New York Times' Caucus blog reported. "Given that that's the case, we took a look at the policy and decided that the campaign ads would be a good fit for the audience and would complement what we do for 'Choose or Lose'."

MTV has had its "Choose or Lose" campaign since 1992, but has previously maintained a policy against playing political ads, even though other MTV Networks stations, including VH1 and Comedy Central, aired them.

The change in policy has raised questions about "official" candidates, as New York radio personality Curtis Silwa demonstrated last week while interviewing Ralph Nader. MTV's Kedas said that Silwa's implication that Nader wouldn't be able to air ads was "misreported."

"We would consider and accept third party advertisements on a case-by-case basis," she told Radar.