We’re no prudes or strangers to shock entertainment, having worked with countless shock jocks in radio.  But the producers of NBC’s “Fear Factor” are taking prime time television right up to that proverbial line in the sand by asking contestants to drink a glass of donkey sperm, and another full of urine.  This story is getting a lot of press today, you can read about it here, thanks to TMZ.

Our mission with this blog is to do our best to find lessons and questions for the brands and talent we work with.  Therefore, we’re wondering a few things today as we decide if we’ll endure “Fear Factor” on Monday night:

  • While watching a stunt where contestants have to drink donkey sperm isn’t for everyone, the “Fear Factor” audience will be fine with it.  They’ve come to expect things like this, as the show is known for walking that line (and that’s probably why the NBC brass gave it the green light, other than it being technically legal).  However, will all of today’s press about the donkey episode lead to any significant ratings spike for “Fear Factor” on Monday night?  After a surprising premiere in December, the ratings are off a bit.  This will tell us something about the mindset of the primetime television audience and the value of viral press.
  • If a radio morning show was planning to have listeners drink donkey sperm, most radio executives would pull the plug on the stunt – knowing there would be some outrage and advertiser backlash.  How is NBC thinking they can overcome the potential negatives in the sales arena?  How can NBC sell national advertising for an episode like that, while some in Radio struggle to sell a modest sponsorship for an event that features girls in bikinis?  Our hunch is that NBC decided to stand behind its brand and reminded advertisers that if you want to reach the “Fear Factor” audience, you’ll just have to deal with “Fear Factor” content.  Easier said than done, of course.
  • Everyone knows the struggles NBC has had in prime time.  We wonder if there have there been conversations along the lines of, “Ratings at any cost, go make someone drink donkey sperm if you have to.”  We’re just wondering.
  • Are there a lot of psychographically available viewers for “Fear Factor” that haven’t discovered the show already?  In the producer’s mind, is a stunt like this just par for the course, designed to generate new viewers, or super-serve the existing viewers?

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.  If the press subsides, everyone will have forgotten about this until ratings day, but if this controversial episode continues to gain viral press over the weekend, NBC will feel a lot of pressure (from advertisers) for its decision to air the episode.  If it were up to us, we’d have the donkey stunt be an “outtake” on the website, with a premium sales sponsorship, and lots of fan flaming and media pointing during the television broadcast.

Thirsty?