Aim TV enlist consumers to fight Nielsen Ratings.

Marking the one year anniversary of its trade and industry outreach program “Change The Sample”, AIM Tell-A-Vision Group (AIM TV) announced it is now launching a second front – a major consumer targeted campaign to further build awareness and visibility.

AIM TV launched the “Change the Sample” campaign in November, 2005 as an industry targeted initiative. “Change the Sample” is intended to convince Nielsen Media Research, Inc. to change its language preference method of monitoring U.S. Hispanic TV viewing to a more accurate measurement based on nativity (U.S. Born / Foreign-Born). The trade campaign netted over 3,000 petitions from various individuals in the television and media industries and also provided much needed awareness and discourse.

Now AIM TV is launching “HELP! Change TV” (HCTV), a consumer targeted, multi-tiered consumer media blitz and a grassroots initiative that educates everyday viewers about the impact of Nielsen’s flawed methodology.

AIM TV contends that the impact on viewers’ lives includes an under-representation of Latinos on English language television resulting in skewed stereotypes that tend to mislead many non Latinos that Latinos are recent or “illegal” immigrants who do not speak English and are not a valuable part of mainstream, U.S. society.

The campaign is the result of a summer long focus group analysis that determined Latinos and viewers overall are very concerned about stereotyping and a general lack of representation on TV and showed a surprising awareness of the ratings process and eagerness to foster change.

“We attended several Latin-themed events all summer speaking directly to the viewers most impacted by the erroneous ratings system. I was surprised by how fed up people are with stereotyping and the injustice this issue can have as a social issue. I was heartened to learn the average viewer understands that the current status quo is about protecting the interest of a few in the Hispanic Media Industry with complete disregard for accuracy and the needs of the mainstream industry and MOST IMPORTANTLY the viewers.” states Robert G. Rose, CEO of AIM Tell-A-Vision and founder of the initiative.

“This serious issue impacts our society negatively as displayed in the recent immigration debate. Most Latinos are U.S. born. We are soldiers, scholars, doctors, lawyers and we contribute greatly to U.S. society. It is time to enlist the viewers who live with the consequences daily and are most affected by this injustice.” states Renzo Devia, President of AIM TV’s Maximas.