Netflix tells actors not to use term ‘binge-watching,’ Guy Pearce says

Guy Pearce in Netflix’s “The
Innocents.”
Netflix

• Guy Pearce, who stars in the new Netflix original
  series “The Innocents,” said in a recent interview that the
  company told him not to talk about “binge-watching”
  in interviews promoting the Netflix series.
• 
  Though it’s unclear exactly where the phrase
  “binge-watching” originated, Netflix did use the term in
  a press release as early as December 2013, the year it
  released its first original series, “House of
  Cards.”
  

Though the rise of Netflix popularized the term “binge-watching”
to describe how the company’s subscribers tended to consume
multiple episodes of a series in one sitting, Netflix now appears
to have soured on the phrase.

Guy Pearce, who stars in the new Netflix original “The
Innocents,” said in
an interview with Empire Magazine’s film podcast (via

IndieWire) that the company told him not to use the phrase
“binge-watching” while promoting the series. 

“I don’t think Netflix likes the term ‘binge,'” Pearce said
when Empire asked him if viewers would binge-watch “The
Innocents.” “When we did the promotion for [‘The Innocents’] in
the [United States], we were strictly sort of instructed
beforehand not to talk about ‘binge-watching.'”

Pearce didn’t elaborate on Netflix’s reasoning for the
policy, but one assumes that the company has taken issue with the
term “binge” for its connection to disorders like binge-eating
and binge-drinking. (
Netflix did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on the matter from Business
Insider.)

It’s unclear exactly where the phrase “binge-watching”
originated. But Netflix did use the phrase in a press
release as early as December 2013, the year it released its
first big original series, “House of Cards,” in promoting survey
results that found binge-watching was a “widespread behavior”
among TV audiences. 

Pearce stars in the supernatural Netflix series “The Innocents”
as a doctor who treats shapeshifting beings. The series debuted
on August 24.