ITV Tonight Music Videos Survey

ComRes surveyed the British population on their attitudes towards explicit content in music videos.

Date Published: 11 Dec 2013

Categories: Education | Public and communities | Social | UK

Description

“You have profited in a way, from that young audience, and then you are just like ‘I will just do what I like’. I don't think that is fair, I think it is exploitative”

 

Pop, Sex and Videotape: Tonight

ITV on Thursday 12 December at 7.30pm

 

Ever since Elvis twitched his hips and Madonna strapped on her conical bra many parents have worried about what the music industry is offering the teenage market. The recent debate has exploded around sexualised music videos, eclipsing much of what has gone before. ITV’s Julie Etchingham talks to Annie Lennox and the creative team behind the controversial ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Wrecking Ball’ music videos, as well as a range of industry insiders, about pop, sex and videotape.

 

 

An exclusive poll for the Tonight programme, conducted by ComRes, reveals:

 

• More than four in five (84%) British adults think that children are likely to copy behaviour that they see on television.

 

• Nearly three quarters of the public (72%) believe the degree of sexual and explicit content in music videos reflects the decline in moral standards in society more widely. There is also broad agreement that music artists who behave explicitly in public or in their videos are simply trying to sell more products, with 84% agreeing.

 

• However, parents are considered to be the group most responsible for controlling what sexual or explicit content in music videos is available to children and young people. 61% of the public say parents should be responsible to a great extent, including three quarters (75%) of people aged 65+.

 

• British adults are more likely to think television channels (48%) should be responsible for controlling what sexual or explicit content in music videos is available to children  than think the same of internet service providers (40%). Just 23% say the Government should be responsible to a large extent.

 

• More than four in five Britons (83%) say that online pop music videos containing sexual or explicit content should be subject to age ratings and regulations, less than one in ten (8%) say that it should not, the same percentage who don’t know. Women (89%) are more likely than men to say that explicit pop videos should be subject to ratings and regulation (78%). Older Britons aged 65+ (94%) are more likely than their younger counterparts aged 18-24 (71%) to support the ratings and regulations, however there is large support for the idea across all age ranges.

Methodology note: ComRes interviewed 2,010 GB adults between 15th and 17th November 2013, and asked a follow up question to 2,029 GB adults between 6th and 8th December 2013. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Full data tables can be found at www.comres.co.uk.