PJ's Blog

How do you hurt a network? Money. Plain and simple. All the steps we've been trying to do to hit them - unfollowing official accounts, stepping off hashtags so they can't track engagement - all good. But we need to be doing all of that when they're paying the most attention. We need to go one step further and coordinate an attack at a time when it will really have an impact.

Let's hit them where it really hurts - advertising.

Every year there are four key periods spaced throughout the year where Nielsen data is collected which essentially takes a census of how many people are watching. They use that to decide which are the popular shows and therefore which shows the networks can charge advertisers more to advertise in. Sweeps week (or these days, sweeps month) is the reason why we have midseason finales, why the Big Episodes are usually in February, May, July, November. In scripted TV, that's why series finales/midseason finales are in May and November.

Here's what I'm proposing. In the next sweeps which will occur this Feb 2021, we organise a mass boycott. Not only do we all stop watching the CW, but we encourage everyone else we know to skip their favourite CW shows for one week. 1-7th February. Get everyone you know to ignore the CW. Delete the app. Unfollow all accounts and not tweet about any of their shows. Tweet only our new cross fandom hashtag which is a protest not against anything that happened in Supernatural or any particular show, but against the systemic practices of queerbaiting, "bury your gays" and all other forms of queer silencing and erasure. (potential hashtag: #queerstrike or queer&allystrike which we can also call #q&astrike)

If we do this right, it will be painful for the CW because this is like being well behaved all throughout the year and then setting fire to the school when the school inspector is in. This is one of the few times of the year when they NEED to prove to the industry that they have an audience. A dramatic drop in audience figures would be CRIPPLING for their business model. All 5 networks agree that these periods are the most important, they can't turn around and say "hey so we pissed off a big portion of our audience so they're on strike but please can we have a do over next month?" Advertisers don't care about any of the fandom drama, all they care about is whether or not the network can get eyeballs on their screens when they need them. If they can't, then they've failed at the one thing they're asking for.

Aren't we already doing this anyway? Yes, but there are a lot of shows people like on the CW like so asking the fandom to boycott every single show they have indefinitely is unsustainable. Eventually people will drift back. Plus there are lot of people and actors who work hard on the shows aired on the network and we don't want to hurt their future careers by suggesting that they can't make shows people want to watch. This isn't about them, it's about the network. That's why this coordinated attack, a sudden drop as the result of a movement against the CW and not the shows, is the most effective strike.

Plus, it's only one week which is enough to make an impact on them but not massively disrupt our lives thereby encouraging maximum participation. Live your normal lives, go about your usual viewing habits, and for this one week, switch off. Get your mum/dad/sister/bestie/anyone else who usually doesn't care but cares about you and say could you do this for me.

One week for us. Millions and millions of dollars for them.

Why one week and not the whole month? Hey if we could get people to do the whole month then I'd say let's go for it but momentum is very hard to keep up for that period of time and they purposefully write these shows so that the big twists happen in these time periods. We have to be realistic. The most important thing is that we have an impact, that we make a sizeable dent that they can't ignore.

People love a cause so let's try and get as many casual viewers as possible knowing that they'll win massive ally points if they stand with us on this. And they don't even have to do anything! Just watch Netflix for a week and tweet out our hashtag and boom, they're helping us out.

Spread it around, shout it from the rooftops, let them know we're coming. Let them underestimate us once more and see where it gets them.

#theysilencedthem. They silenced us. Show them what out silence sounds like.

Tagging everyone cause let's spread this far and wide. Trust me, this will hurt them. More than a petition, more than a hashtag, a coordinated effort like this will HURT them. And they deserve it.