Senate Bill 14 was drafted by Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, who said he was specifically bothered by late-night ads from Santa Monica, Calif.-based Mantra Entertainment that peddle softcore porn.
“Commercials like those promoting ‘Girls Gone Wild’ are clearly supporting an obscene product,” Jackson said in a statement Friday. “These products are illegal under Tennessee law, and we have a clear interest in preventing their advertising.”
Jackson’s bill not only targets those types of ads on public airwaves but “paid-subscription” cable systems and satellite systems as well. His bill would make it for those types of media companies to knowingly advertise a product that is obscene or harmful to minors.
“If you have the television on at night, you can’t help but see these suggestive, disgusting commercials advertising a product that is clearly obscene in nature,” Jackson said. “We want ‘Girls Gone Wild’ and their obscenity-laden products off our airwaves.”
The bill also amends the language regarding the distribution of adult material, streamlining it with federal record-keeping rule 18 U.S.C. § 2257.
If passed by the senate and signed by Tennessee’s governor, the bill could become law by July.
