Why I Censor

It seems that every time I get George Parker on The BeanCast, the inevitable result is a flood of questions about why I edit his cursing out.

First, let me say unequivocally that I am a fan of George's. I read his blog. Yes, it can make me shake my head from time to time, but his AdScam/The Horror! is a true litmus for the dissatisfaction many of us feel with the ad industry machine.

Let me also say that I curse like a sailor myself. I wish I didn't, but there it is. If you get me playing a particularly frustrating video game, you'll hear expletives come screaming from my lips that will make you think someone has died.

But here's the deal. The original genesis for me exploring a "clean" tag on iTunes was my daughter. For years now I've faithfully listened to podcasts in the car while driving. And often I would do this with her in the back seat. But time and again, I would find myself having to stop listening to a show because of random f-bombs or the like. Someday I will have to endure my daughter cursing at me. But I'd prefer it to be delayed as possible. So I'd turn the show off and often relegate such shows to a second tier of listening.

So I vowed during that time that if I ever had a podcast of my own, I would try my best to not have cursing on my show so that people with kids could listen to it. Not much too it.

Yet as I developed the show and launched it, a secondary (and probably more salient) reason became apparent. Again and again I would hear from people who were listening to the show in the office during work hours. And as part of the usual compliments, I would always hear that they appreciated that the show was "work safe."

Now from my own agency-side, gutter-mouth background, it never occurred to me that many corporate environments have a zero tolerance for foul language in the office. Many of them have it written as part of their code of conduct. And a show that paid attention to this detail was an essential selling point for them to continue listening.

So if I have to sum it up, the whole censorship thing is not a judgment, but rather good marketing. I'm trying to grow the audience and make The BeanCast the best marketing podcast available anywhere. (Heck, it's right in the title bar of this page if you look.) And while few of you will stop listening because of me editing out four-letter words, those same words do present some significant barriers to other listeners. It's all about accessibility and reaching the highest number of marketing professionals as possible. The words have to go in order for me to maintain a growing audience.

I don't expect this will end the debate. Censorship is a touchy subject. But like they say, "All things may be permissible, but not all things are good." And in my case, the potential harm clearly outweighs the benefits.

As always, I'd love your feedback on all this.