TV Shows

“Gossip Girl” became a hit show among the younger generation - but it seems as if more than a few people have been questioning the new campaign for the commercials and ads that are being spread for the second season in the show.

The new season is set to start September 1st and the first of the promotions will be aired a few weeks before in order to hype up anticipation among CW viewers, Yet, there is much criticism from viewers claiming that the show and promos are too racy. Alert surfers got a preview last week, when images of coupled-up “Gossip Girl” characters found their way onto several Web sites.

Scenes include Serena van der Woodsen (series blonde Blake Lively) with eyes shut dreamily, mouth open, while a friend, his face buried in her tresses, nuzzles her neck. Strongly suggesting the pair are just getting started, the headline, which quotes The Boston Herald, declares: “Every Parent’s Nightmare.”

“I think it reeks of desperation, if they have to position themselves as so edgy and so controversial that they’ve been called out by us,” said Melissa Henson, PTC director of communications.

But CW marketing boss Rick Haskins said the advertising just aims to get noticed. “What we’re trying to do is communicate with the audience in a way that they like and can appreciate,” he said. “This sort of campaign resonates with someone who likes ‘Gossip Girl’” — specifically, women ages 18 to 34. The objective was finding “well-written headlines that are provocative and would catch our viewers’ attention,” said Haskins, “and, in a tongue-in-cheek way, capture what the show is about.”

“Rather than reinforcing positive values that parents are trying to instill in their children, this program very often is undermining these positive values,” said PTC’s Henson in April during a CNN-aired discussion spurred by that steamy campaign. “Gossip Girl” can only hope that its September return will be greeted with comparable notice.