Only a week after it began airing on Sirius Satellite Radio, the ad for Sinus Buster - the "first ever radio commercial with profanity," according to SiCap Industries, developer of the product - has been pulled; actually the offensive word has just been removed from the ad. Digital Music News reports that SiCap Industries president, Wayne Perry, commented that they did not want to "put Sirius in a sticky situation," and "give their enemies a venue for complaints."
I don't understand this decision. Not that I am an advocate of profanity in the media, but it seems to me that they are "wimping out." Since Sirius is subscription-based radio and free from FCC restrictions covering terrestrial radio stations, wouldn't listeners of relatively unregulated radio expect that they might hear language they would not on most other radio stations? If Howard Stern gets by with some of his crudeness on Sirius, why is an ad with the s-word any different?
Individuals chose to pay for it and chose to listen to it. I may be wrong, but if Satellite radio audiences decrease, I think it will be due to reasons other than profanity - in a commercial or used by Howard Stern.
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