Rainbow Media Group's Fuse (formerly MuchMusic USA) announced Monday that it
will break a new mock public-service campaign and benefit telethon dubbed "Save
the Music Video."
That telethon will coincide with Fuse's launch Monday, May 19.
Starting Thursday, May 15, Sally Struthers -- best known for her roles on
CBS' All in the Family and, more recently, the "Save the Children"
campaign -- will begin appearing in "irreverent" Fuse advertising in industry
trade publications and out-of-home, saying things like, "Every day, thousands of
music videos go unplayed ... Just by watching three minutes a day, you can show
a music video that you care ... Right now, a music video is being
neglected."
The campaign and statements by Fuse president Marc Juris are
taking swipes at Viacom Inc.'s MTV: Music Television and VH1, which have been
downplaying music videos in favor of scripted programming.
"Sally Struthers -- who else could we turn to at this time, when the
music-television industry is in such a state of crisis, when viewers see more
about the homes musicians live in and the cars they drive than the videos they
make?" Juris said in a prepared statement.
The campaign will run in advertising- and broadcast-trade magazines -- as
well as outdoor billboards, bus and bus-shelter ads, phone kiosks and vendor
umbrellas -- through mid-July, Fuse said.
Fuse's Save the Music Video telethon airs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. May
19, just three nights before VH1's May 22 Divas Duets, the latter
network's latest outing to benefit the "Save the Music
Foundation."
