Is It OK For The WWE To Air "Be A Star" Commercials?

[Darkshot77]

Last night, The WWE showed another one of their Be A Star commercials against bullying. A little over an hour later we get footage of Kane choke slamming Ryder through the stage pushing him off the stage in a wheelchair. Is this Ok? To be anti-bullying to showing bullying in basically the same breath.

Now, I know it is a show. If William H Macy was to come out on a commercial during an airing of Shameless and talk about responsible drinking, that is one thing. Shameless does not claim to be real. And this is Willam H. Macy talking not Frank Gallagher. It is clear that what is on TV is complete fiction, they do not pretend it to be.

On the other hand, The WWE tries to make things seem real, but when you do that you can not back track and say it was "entertainment." A few years ago HHH broke into Randy Orton's house with a sledge hammer, after a short fight he was arrested by police men. They even afterwards made is seems real by saying that Orton would not "press charges." And now they want to seem all noble by taking up an anti bullying campaign. This "Be a Star" business is just a follow up for the "Stand up for the WWE" campaign. The WWE wants to make its self out to be wholesome, that it is not as bad as it looks. Being anti bullying is a PR move. But one they do not back up on the day to day programming. Let's review, two examples will suffice:

Mark Henry would attack wrestlers after their matches and injure their ankles. He did this for no reason, just because he could. During his reign of terror he assaulted, and I believe, hospitalized a sound technician for making a mistake. He continues to bully others when he put Jerry Lawler through the announce table and gave him "Anal Bleeding"

For the Past year Micheal Cole has been verbally bullying everyone he sets his sights on. He said that Kelly was fake beautiful and that her magazine cover was air brushed. He consistently assaulted the divas by demeaning their wrestling ability. He Bullied Jerry Lawler all through their feud and up to this day. And finally he has called Daniel Bryan: a geek, boring, clumsy, a nerd, a goof, a dweeb, and was not only a virgin, but in fact had never even had a girlfriend.

Kane and Zack Ryder is just the newest chapter of senseless bullying. All the while we are reminded, even by the Bella twins who have not ceased to bully Eve and Kelly, that bullying is wrong and to not do it. So does the WWE have the right to air anti-bullying commercials when they participate so fully in it?

I call hypocrisy, but why say you?

 

[KnowMyRole-ShutYourMouth]

Lol. Oh my goodness. How could anyone disagree? Wrestlers should just kiss hands, shake babies, and have tea parties. Absolutely nothing could ever, SHOULD ever develop to a personal level that may aid the audience into investing in the product on a more personal level. That could draw more money, and that's stupid.

 

[stephenjpunk317]

I always found it funny that the Bella Twins were featured on that Be A Star ad, and then they come out and tell Kelly Kelly to eat something. Or call Natalya a pig. But we all know it's entertainment, and this campaign is a great cause that WWE is involved with, so that's how it goes.

 

[trashboy]

LOL. If they all followed the "don't be a bully" thing, then no one would be heel and all the faces would just sit in the ring and talk to each other for 2 hours. That whole "don't be a bully" has to do with "real life" not the "show." I know kids think it's real, but it's up to the parents to tell the kids what's real and not.

 

[gwarren]

No

It amuses me when Cena pops up telling us to be stars, then next thing you know, he's stealing someone's girlfriend.

Or when Sheamus tells us how horribly he was bullied, only to come out and tell Mark Henry one of his Irish stories, basically calling Henry fat and useless.

Yeah, lol

 

[Ithil]

It seems extremely silly.

Especially when the likes of Sheamus says don't bully, while he plays someone who beats people up for fun (as a face!), or Punk saying it when his face character is a massive prick who verbally abuses anyone in his path.

Just a inherently silly thing for a wrestling company to advocate considering what their product is.

Of course, that's just the goofy side.

WWE itself, and a lot of wrestling culture worldwide, features a huge amount of bullying (the abuse JR alone takes is repulsive, that's not even mentioning the locker rooms).

 

[Headman]

Last night, The WWE showed another one of their Be A Star commercials against bullying. A little over an hour later we get footage of Kane choke slamming Ryder through the stage pushing him off the stage in a wheelchair. Is this Ok? To be anti-bullying to showing bullying in basically the same breath.

Now, I know it is a show. If William H Macy was to come out on a commercial during an airing of Shameless and talk about responsible drinking, that is one thing. Shameless does not claim to be real. And this is Willam H. Macy talking not Frank Gallagher. It is clear that what is on TV is complete fiction, they do not pretend it to be.

On the other hand, The WWE tries to make things seem real, but when you do that you can not back track and say it was "entertainment." A few years ago HHH broke into Randy Orton's house with a sledge hammer, after a short fight he was arrested by police men. They even afterwards made is seems real by saying that Orton would not "press charges." And now they want to seem all noble by taking up an anti bullying campaign. This "Be a Star" business is just a follow up for the "Stand up for the WWE" campaign. The WWE wants to make its self out to be wholesome, that it is not as bad as it looks. Being anti bullying is a PR move. But one they do not back up on the day to day programming. Let's review, two examples will suffice:

Mark Henry would attack wrestlers after their matches and injure their ankles. He did this for no reason, just because he could. During his reign of terror he assaulted, and I believe, hospitalized a sound technician for making a mistake. He continues to bully others when he put Jerry Lawler through the announce table and gave him "Anal Bleeding"

For the Past year Micheal Cole has been verbally bullying everyone he sets his sights on. He said that Kelly was fake beautiful and that her magazine cover was air brushed. He consistently assaulted the divas by demeaning their wrestling ability. He Bullied Jerry Lawler all through their feud and up to this day. And finally he has called Daniel Bryan: a geek, boring, clumsy, a nerd, a goof, a dweeb, and was not only a virgin, but in fact had never even had a girlfriend.

Kane and Zack Ryder is just the newest chapter of senseless bullying. All the while we are reminded, even by the Bella twins who have not ceased to bully Eve and Kelly, that bullying is wrong and to not do it. So does the WWE have the right to air anti-bullying commercials when they participate so fully in it?

I call hypocrisy, but why say you?

Um... ok.


Notice how all the guys doing the bullying are heels? It's not glorifying bullying if the antagonist is the one doing it. Eventually the heels always get what's coming to them. There is no hypocrisy. Only stupidity.

 

[Барбоса]

It is perfectly fine that WWE shows such advertisements and sponsors such initiatives. Indeed, it is perhaps most important that WWE should.

I choose to see these messages as similar to their "Don't Try This" messages. The B A Star campaign demonstrates that WWE and its management is aware that by being based on a 'sport' that simulates and exploits the extremes of behaviour such as intimidation, physical violence etc. for entertainment and realises that it is most pertinent that they to tell children that such behaviour is not okay.

Is there a certain amount of propaganda of positive spin nvolved in this? Sure, but at the same time it shows that WWE has a social consciene and is indeed a conscious about its role in influencing young children.

 

[dotty_84]

I have no problem with the B A Star ads but i think the whole Natalya and her bowel movements shenanigans is a step to far as it doesn't come across as a story line it looks like their is a vendetta against the girl or her family and their name. Apart from the rest is expected within wrestling.

 

[oldhamandy1]

Doesn't Shameless pretend to be real? Pretty sure most shows don't break the 4th wall, never noticed NPH on How I Met Your Mother saying "I'm not really Barney I'm actually an actor," I know they stop pretending to be real when it finishes but still. It makes sense for them to do the anti-bullying and hardley a bad thing to behind, maybe they shouldn't say "don't try this at home" after all they say that and then do the moves.

 

[JJ15776]

I call hypocrisy, but why say you?

I say this:

Now, I know it is a show. If William H Macy was to come out on a commercial during an airing of Shameless and talk about responsible drinking, that is one thing. Shameless does not claim to be real. And this is Willam H. Macy talking not Frank Gallagher. It is clear that what is on TV is complete fiction, they do not pretend it to be.

This is exactly what I was going to say, and you said it in your own post. It's a TELEVISION SHOW. It's SCRIPTED. EVERYBODY knows that.

On the other hand, The WWE tries to make things seem real, but when you do that you can not back track and say it was "entertainment."

...why the hell not? What has WWE ever done to make you think they're more real than Shameless? Is it because they're live? Is it because people used to think professional wrestling was real 30 years ago? There is NO DIFFERENCE between Raw and Shameless. They both feature actors playing characters on a scripted television show.

No other TV show has featured a break in, and then one of the characters said they wouldn't press charges? Why was it "trying to be real" when WWE did it, but not when any other show or movie did it? No other TV show features a guy who likes to beat up people or a guy who insults other people? Why is it advocating bullying when they do it, but not when any other show does it? Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan talked about how bad high school bullying is after they filmed Mean Girls, did you call that hypocrisy?

So does the WWE have the right to air anti-bullying commercials when they participate so fully in it?

Putting aside the idiocy I pointed out above, that right there is all the more reason to do it. Are their "Don't Try This At Home" commercials hypocrisy too? They're admitting OUT OF CHARACTER that bullying is a bad thing.

 

[Барбоса]

Doesn't Shameless pretend to be real? Pretty sure most shows don't break the 4th wall, never noticed NPH on How I Met Your Mother saying "I'm not really Barney I'm actually an actor,"

It is all about target audience. I would guess that the US version of Shameless is similar to the original UK version and is aired after the watershed and is certainly not aimed at children like WWE is. HIMYM is tamer but again I would guess that it is not aimed at children and is aired at a later time. Therefore both have no reason to tell children not to act like the actors they see on screen

 

[AwesomeRko]

A far as the onscreen stuff goes I agree with the majority of posters on here that its tv and its just WWE's way of showing an awareness of the disinction betwene the show and real life.

It is somewhat hypocritical though when you hear the horror stories about peoples like Bob Holly and JBL who legitimately bullied wrestlers and others backstage yet seemed to get away with it. I mean JBL while bullying Joey Styles for example in real life was one of the top guys in the company and represnting WWE in main events fueds and at PPVs. While Bob Holly was often deliberately very stiff with newcomers including Randy Orton in matches and who can forget the kid he legimitaely beat up on Tough Enough (if you haven't seen it youtube it). I know there is the argument that locker room hazing especially in wrestling is part of sporting culture and is seen as a means of proving yourself but ultimately if its upsetting someone and causing emotional/physical damage I still can't see how it is acceptable and must surely be classed as a form of picking on the new kid.

In saying that I have no idea what the WWE's like today, maybe they have cleaned their act up and this bullying promotion is indicative of that. If hazing is still being allowed to go on however then they are being pretty hypocritical.

 

[db_teamextreme]

It's better than TNA doing it with Bully Ray as their spokesman, but I agree that sometimes it seems odd.

However, I do think it is a good thing that they are doing.

 

[FanSince85]

Why can't they air these commercials? Stop confusing a PSA for the characters and storylines that are played out on tv.

That's like saying Robert De Niro can't say don't abuse women after he beat the hell out of his fake wife in Raging Bull... It's not real people.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

Why the fuck they decided to do it in the first place is beyond me. Instead of telling kids to be themselves and not worry about bullies they should be entertaining the fans that stay loyal to their less-than-great product. To be honest, I think it's a good campaign standing up for a great cause but the WWE should NOT be the ones backing them up!!! Get some other god damn company to do it.

 

[The Scarred One]

The whole intent of the Be A Star campaign is to reach out to impressionable kids. It doesn't really relate to adults who already know that it's wrong to bully or victimize people for petty differences and already know that wrestling is scripted entertainment.

If the WWE had done something like this 20 years ago, then there may be some cause for concern. Back then, kids would probably find it hypocritical for guys like Shawn Michaels, Diesel and Razor Ramon to tell kids not to be bullies, even though they portrayed bullies themselves on television. But now that the internet has pretty much exposed the world of wrestling to be staged, kids now know that they're just playing characters. These kids, who are old enough to work a computer, now know that guys like Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler and the Miz don't act in real life as they do on TV. It's entertainment, pure and simple.

 

[King of the Words]

WWE are again trying to kiss up to the kids on this one. What ever they can do to please the kids. It is a, do as I say, not as I do, comment to the young ones. You can't do it but WWE can because it's part of the show. The WWE obviously don't practice what they preach on this one. Just another marketing ply to make sure parents let their kids watch the product.

 

[DirtyD79]

Why the fuck they decided to do it in the first place is beyond me. Instead of telling kids to be themselves and not worry about bullies they should be entertaining the fans that stay loyal to their less-than-great product. To be honest, I think it's a good campaign standing up for a great cause but the WWE should NOT be the ones backing them up!!! Get some other god damn company to do it.

It's just like all those corny assemblies at shool. The kids pretty much ignore them and think "yeah yeah get back to John Cena and Randy Orton beating people up". Kids don't want to be preached to, they want to be entertained. They should give a guy a mailman gimmick and have him pop up and hollar out "Message!" when one of these segments is gonna show up.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I agree that the Natalya stuff is a little hypocritical... especially as the Hart kids are on record as saying they were bullied with the "Hart Fart" line. With WWE everything is seemingly the bare minimum... the minimum is they get invovled with some kind of bullying campaign... they can't go too far as their whole product is based on the concept of bullies... but while it's PG faces always win... it's crap but thats their get out...

Seamus is really interesting cos his involvment might actually incite bullied kids to fight back, "so you're short, fat and ginger?" Brouge Kick them... Cena got bullied? maybe... but I am pretty certain that he went and "sorted" those bullies once he got big enough... Thuganomics? it's all degrees... The guys I want to see on that campaign are guys like Regal and Edge who wanted to do it their whole lives and probably got picked on for it... not Cena...

 

[Defekt]

Who cares.

The anti-bullying ads are just part of a PR campaign to make the company look good. It's not like kids are gonna suddenly stop bullying each other because of some commercials.

Besides, Kane and Mark Henry are heals who get boo'd for their bullying.

 

[Headman]

Who cares.

The anti-bullying ads are just part of a PR campaign to make the company look good. It's not like kids are gonna suddenly stop bullying each other because of some commercials.

Besides, Kane and Mark Henry are heals who get boo'd for their bullying.

I like to think I've been a little nicer on the message boards because of the campaign. j/k

But you are correct. The OP points out the actions of heels. Their actions are not being glorified. Nobody is cheering Kane for pushing Zack Ryder off the stage in a wheelchair. (Well, almost nobody). And Mark Henry is called out for being a bully all the time. Back in the Attitude Era the announcers would justify the Dudley's 3Ding women through tables as long as the woman was a heel who "Had it coming". I don't see this sort of thing being an issue in modern WWE.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

Like others have said, if there are no bullies there are no real heels... the whole point of wrestling is the battle between good and evil with good ultimately triumphing. WWE can have characters bullying others because it helps set up a victory for the good guy, which is the hope/inspiration you want little kids to gain from watching pro wrestling. Now, where I do have an issue with the WWE and its Be A Star hypocrisy comes from any report that I read that has to do with backstage bullying that really serves no purpose to the product. Vince picking on guys like JR or HHH saying things about Lillian Garcia. Those are some examples of bullying that do not have to do with the show and just shows the hypocrisy of those running the show and makes me question their genuineness to the program. As for wrestling itself, it's inherent to the sport and I'm glad they do have a partnership with Be A Star.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

How can I put this lightly, um.....pro wrestlers are characters......the be a star stuff is REAL PEOPLE.

Everyone knows it's fake. Everyone knows it's a show. Having superstars break character and say "don't bully" is actually pretty powerful. Also, most of those who bully, if not all, on the show, are HEELS.

How this is even a thread is beyond me. Next you'll be saying it's wrong for beer companies to put "drink responsibly" on the label.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I like to think I've been a little nicer on the message boards because of the campaign. j/k

But you are correct. The OP points out the actions of heels. Their actions are not being glorified. Nobody is cheering Kane for pushing Zack Ryder off the stage in a wheelchair. (Well, almost nobody). And Mark Henry is called out for being a bully all the time. Back in the Attitude Era the announcers would justify the Dudley's 3Ding women through tables as long as the woman was a heel who "Had it coming". I don't see this sort of thing being an issue in modern WWE.

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Good point about hoping that the campaign has made you nicer.

A thought just occurred to me, and I am not directly this to you personally, Headman, but what I find hpocritical is the amount of bullies on this site.

There are plenty of you here who bully and belittle people, and call them names. If they like Cena or TNA, you criticise them and say that they must be sucks. There is a lot of mysoginy about the divas and bullying of wrestlers through your harsh words and mean comments.

I find some of you hypocritical, and the fact this post is on wrestlezone, which is a hotbed for bullying, and the mods will mod me for this and yet enable the true bullies on this site to continue unabated.

Wrestlezone also employs Mark Madden, who says some of the most vile things that can be said by someone. One time, I send Madden an e-mail, picking him up on some of his points. He replied by telling me to f.... off, and go f.... myself. Is that not bullying? Yet wrestlezone employ him, and yet have modded me in the past for not towing the "party line", or because I offended a member of the IWC.

Maybe the reason some of you are opposed to those "Be A Star" ads is because, deep down, you are a bully yourself. You like to pick on those you perceive are weak. You support someone like a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who bullies and bashes women, and the Rock, whose whole shtick is to run down other people. So don't get on your high horse about WWE doing something positive.