The Parents Television Council (PTC) has once again aimed its sights on MTV, calling out its top advertisers in a report entitled "Top Ten Sponsors Of MTV Sleaze." The PTC is asking the companies to defend their reasons for advertising on the hugely popular cable network. "These companies are directly responsible for the raunchy programming poisoning the minds of impressionable children.  We are calling on these sponsors to explain why they choose to support a network that contains substantially more sex, foul language and violence than any broadcast television program aimed at adults.  These companies must be held accountable for underwriting this material," said PTC President L. Brent Bozell.

While the PTC may feel MTV is delivering "raunchy programming" to American youth, a recent FMQB Examines study, Media And Youth: High School Students’ Perceptions Of Radio And Media In 2005, found that when high school students were asked to describe the content of MTV’s programming on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = “Not Sexual” while 5 = “Too Sexual”), the results were mixed. While the majority of those surveyed agreed that MTV does include sexual content, the pervasiveness of that content was still unclear. 12 percent of respondents indicated the MTV’s programming was “Too Sexual” while a significant 55 percent thought it was “Overly Sexual” in nature (4 or 5 on the scale). In addition, more that one-third of respondents fell right in the middle, describing MTV’s content as “Sometimes Suggestive But Not Generally Offensive” (3 on the scale). On the other hand, just one percent of respondents thought MTV was “Not Sexual” and nine percent indicated it was “Not Generally Sexual” in nature (1 or 2 on the scale).

According to the PTC's study, the top ten MTV advertisers are:
1. Procter & Gamble Co.
2. Sony Corp.
3. Time Warner
4. PepsiCo
5. Viacom
6. Colgate-Palmolive Co.
7. Hershey Foods Corp.
8. Cadbury Schweppes
9. Foot Locker Inc.
10. General Electric Co.