ABC Family

Dear ABC Family,

For many years I have watched ABC Family and enjoyed the new movies that would come out, especially around Christmas. In recent years, I have felt the need to really monitor what I choose to watch on ABC Family because the content was not the most appropriate. Therefore, I am writing this letter to point out a few areas where I feel your station could improve in the message it is conveying to its audience.

I am currently a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and this semester, I participated in a group research project where my group members and I decided to look at the amount of relational aggression on ABC Family television shows. Relational aggression, for those unfamiliar with the term, is behaviors, such as gossiping and teasing, which harm the relationships of individuals. We chose ABC Family because the title of your network claims that your network is family appropriate and we wanted to see if that was really true. Even though this study was not formal by any means, it did open my eyes to the amount of relational aggression that is shown on your network. In many instances, individuals were not punished for using relational aggression. This is extremely troubling to me because if children and adolescents are watching these shows, they may begin to think that it is alright to gossip, tease, ignore, and use psychological manipulation on those they associate with. Also, these behaviors could be quite harmful when used within the family because they could lead to fighting and lack of respect, which could lead to poor family relationships. In addition, relational aggression is the only thing we looked specifically at, but there was also physical aggression, sexual scenes and innuendos, and messages concerning the importance of having a perfect body when it is almost impossible to look like the women in the media. I do not feel that any of these messages are appropriate for families, but yet you are conveying the message that they are appropriate.

Thus, I send to you a call for action. I feel that the name of ABC Family should be changed to a title that better fits the content of the station or that the content of the station should be changed so it is more appropriate for the audience that ABC Family is trying to reach. I know that change is not easy. These changes will bring about a loss of audience and money, but they could also bring more viewers that are more willing to watch family oriented content, which could also bring more money to the network. I would ask you to think about your families and whether or not you want your children doing and saying the things portrayed in your programing. If the answer is no, why are you endorsing a network that is sending negative messages to families throughout America? Please, really consider what I have said and be willing to make changes where they are necessary.