- Target:
- To send to local and national media, and True North Production Company.
- Region:
- United Kingdom
MTV -The Valleys is described by its makers as, “The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore and Made In Chelsea - but Welsh”. True North, the company who have won the commission to produce this programme state, “The True North team love what they do - they respect the people they work with and they put money on screen.” Geordie Shore featured its participants’ drunkenness, vomiting, ridiculous conversation, nudity and sex - is this the content of a respectful TV company’s product?
True North want to put money on screen from South Wales in this instance. Potential show members are flattered with hand delivered postcards in clubs and bars which read, ‘You’ve Been Spotted.’ This looks-based selection process taps into the idea that being a Cheryl or Ashley-Cole-Alike is a viable and aspirational goal.
Not only is the show advancing the empty ambition of celebrity, it misunderstands and will no doubt misrepresent The Valleys. It is moving young people twenty miles along the A470 to live in a shared Cardiff house for five weeks - a city the majority already frequent. Will they suggest all people who live in Welsh towns and villages rarely leave them?
On-screen coverage of South Wales often features the most run-down areas, opinions gleaned from the least broad minded, cumulatively leading to a negative, skewed vision of the area by those outside.
There is a surfeit of successful, highly educated, hardworking and eloquent people of all ages in and from the South Wales Valleys, who do not wish to appear drunk or naked on national TV. They aren’t the ones who will appear.
The contestants will have been cast by True North Production Company to make money and increase ratings. The South Wales Valley stereotype will be perpetuated. The Welsh stereotype will be propagated. The idea of vanity and fame as a career path will be given a helping hand, potentially inspiring a whole host of Welsh youngsters to avoid academia and concentrate on implants and hair extensions instead.
Stripped down, MTV The Valleys is about business people manipulating and exploiting human beings – and a nation - in order to make money – how can this be allowed to take place?
To read the full article, please see: http://lisaderrick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/leave-valleys-mtv.html
Please follow and share our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/No_toValleysMTV
We, the undersigned, wish to register our objection to the creation of the television programme MTV - The Valleys.
We call upon True North Production Company to cancel filming as we believe the show will perpetuate negative and damaging stereotypes of Wales and its residents.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The No to MTV - The Valleys petition to To send to local and national media, and True North Production Company. was written by Lisa and is in the category Media Issues at GoPetition.