Channel 4 faces major backlash over controversial Bonnie Blue documentary

Daily Record

3 days ago

Channel 4 has faced backlash from advertisers as they demand their ads are pulled from it's controversial documentary 1000 Men and Me: the Bonnie Blue Story, which aired last week
Channel 4 is facing pressure from advertisers demanding that their ads are removed from its controversial Bonnie Blue documentary. The programme titled 1000 Men and Me: the Bonnie Blue Story, aired last week and followed the content creator as she exposed the dark reality of her X-rated videos.
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Now, businesses have asked for their ads to be removed from the documentary featured on Channel 4 on Demand -including card payment business Visa, juice maker Cawston Press and vodka brand Smirnoff.
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It was reported by The Times that the brands did not want their products promoted during the programme as it does not align with their values or advertising guidelines.
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The documentary about Bonnie Blue, whose real name is Tia Billinger, has sparked backlash for including explicit sex scenes - most notably a scene in which the adult content creator films a sex tape alongside two others from the porn industry, the Mirror reports.
A Channel 4 spokesperson said in a statement: "We take great care to ensure that advertising is appropriately placed across all programming, particularly where content may be sensitive or potentially contentious.
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"In the case of 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, the programme was reviewed in advance of transmission to ensure advertising was suitable. Several brands and categories were excluded to avoid inappropriate juxtapositions."
They continued: "Channel 4 is a commercially funded public service broadcaster. We use commercial revenues such as advertising to make programmes that deliver our remit to create change through entertainment across a wide range of issues. Our programming is created independently from our commercial operation."
Dam Rachel de Souza, a children's commissioner, has hit out at the documentary, claiming that it risked affecting efforts to protect teenagers from online porn.
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She stated: "For years we have been fighting to protect our children from the kind of degrading, violent sex that exists freely on their social media feeds.
"This documentary risks taking us a step back by glamorising, even normalising, the things young people tell me are frightening, confusing and damaging to their relationships," she concluded.
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Earlier this week, the shadow Home Office minister expressed outrage that children can still access the Bonnie Blue documentary online, despite recently introduced strict age checks designed to block access to pornographic content.
Although Channel 4 requires users to be at least 16 to create an account, the lack of a robust age verification system allows minors to easily input false birth dates to view the show.
"It seems bizarre to me," Home Office minister Katie Lam said on Times Radio. "There is clearly a consistency problem both in terms of content and in terms of platform."
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Ofcom has not yet confirmed whether it will launch a formal investigation into Channel 4's broadcast of the documentary but stated that it is "assessing the complaints against [its] rules."
In response, Channel 4 maintained that the programme was "compliant with the Ofcom broadcasting code". The broadcaster also defended its decision to make the documentary about the adult star, who claims to have slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours.
Commissioning Editor Tim Hancock said: "I believe it is Channel 4's job to tell stories like this, trying to get behind the truth of the headlines. We film real stories in real time. We are very proud to do films like this."