Setting The Record Straight

Letter from T-Mobile's CEO, Robert Dotson

As President and CEO of T-Mobile, it is my responsibility to ensure that everything we do lines up with the qualities of our brand and what our company represents.

Recently, you sent me an e-mail inquiring about T-Mobile’s stance on placing ads on programming deemed to be inappropriate.

Our company has a longstanding policy that prohibits such advertising on TV stations or any other media carrying programming or content deemed to be offensive.

This e-mail is an effort on my part to communicate with you directly on this topic with honest and straightforward answers to your questions.  Additionally, I want to apologize to you and other interested parties because – after reviewing personally some of the complaints brought to my attention – I do believe we could have acted more quickly to address what are clearly legitimate concerns.

As one of the country’s leading providers of wireless communication services to young people and families, we understand we have a powerful opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of our customers.

For this reason, we continue to set specific standards for ourselves around what content we think T-Mobile should be affiliated with – both as a content provider and as a major advertiser across multiple media.

Our current policy guidelines make it clear that the content we provide and the programming supported by our advertising dollars must not conflict with the qualities of T-Mobile’s brand.

This means we will not support programming or content offerings that are sexually gratuitous and explicit, racist, hateful or excessively violent.

As a result of communication from you and others, I have personally taken the time to view some of the programs in question where we have run advertising.  Candidly, some of the choices we have made are clearly inconsistent with who we are and what we stand for.

As a result, we are taking the following immediate actions:

In addition to removing advertising from programs brought to our attention, effective immediately, we are pulling all advertising from the FX Channel pending further review of their programming
I have directed my marketing and advertising leads to conduct a deeper review of our advertising standards to ensure that our selections are consistent with the qualities of T-Mobile’s brand

T-Mobile aspires to connect young people and families with those who matter most – all in an effort to help our customers lead richer and more fulfilling lives.

We will remain vigilant to ensure that our services, and our advertising dollars, are managed in such a way that they are always consistent with our brand and what we stand for as a company.

Thank you for taking the time to communicate with me on this topic.  Your voice is heard and we are taking corrective action.

Robert Dotson