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Sat 4 Dec, 2004 09:16 am
AFTER THE most vile television advertising campaign in memory promulgated by both political parties, the refusal by NBC and CBS to air United Church of Christ advertising affirming that God loves all of his creations and the church's welcoming nature represents a comedy of the bizarre ("Two networks bar church ad welcoming gays," Page A1, Dec. 3).
Despite the feeble justifications of network spokespersons, it seems clear that the real issue is money, not broadcast values. I have no doubt that if the United Church of Christ could mobilize the same kind of funding as Republicans, Democrats, and swift boat veterans, these networks would miraculously discover that their advertising policy was as welcoming as our churches.
Rev. JAMES. A BRONWELL
Pastor, United Church of Christ, Sutton
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2004/12/04/feeble_arguments_by_networks_on_ad/
I'm not sure what the real issue is but I don't think money is it.
Television stations set ad rates and ususally anyone who can pay the rate can be an advertiser.
It is very strange that this ad was rejected.
If the real issue is money why won't the major networks run ads from the NRA advocating the elimination of gun control laws? The NRA's pockets are plenty deep.
Methinks he's off the mark.
You'll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise above,
And I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love,
And it makes me feel so sorry.
Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,
Blowing through the letters that we wrote.
Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,
We're idiots, babe.
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves
In a statement released Thursday, NBC said," The United Church of Christ approached us with two advertisements, one we accepted, and one we did not. The one we rejected violated our long-standing policy against accepting ads dealing with issues of public controversy. The issue of controversy stemmed from the ad's suggestion that other religions are not open to all people for a variety of reasons. "
Ha!
Thats a pretty funny rationale.
One wouldn't have to search very hard to find instances of churchs and congregations closing their doors to "different" people.
The UCC should take the money they were going to spend on advertising and document these closed door policies!
Quote:The issue of controversy stemmed from the ad's suggestion that other religions are not open to all people for a variety of reasons
The Issue of Controversy was homosexuality. An ad which did not suggest same-sex relationships is running.
This is one of the funniest controversies to come to public attention in a long time. Do you realize that the UCC has gotten far more exposure for their ad than that $1.7 million could ever have brought? It would have gone largely unnoticed by the rank and file had the networks run it. Now the ad is everywhere, all over the media and people are rising up in righteous indignation on both sides of the issue. Hilarious. And just as hilarious is CBS' rationale for refusing to run the ad. Whoever added that bit about the ad being controversial because there's a debate about a constitutional amendment right now has a fine and rare sense of humor. The ad doesn't say anything about marriage between same sexes or different sexes. That's a blatantly red herring. The UCC got a lot more for their money than they could have afforded to pay for.
You all are missing the point...
This was a publicity coup designed by a marketing genius.
The ad was designed to be rejected-- the two men holding hands ensured controversy while staying subtle enough to avoid accusations of baiting. As Merry points out, the resulting flap (which was unquestionably intentional) was as good as the designers planned.
I am happy this ad worked as planned, because I agree with the message and am generally sympathetic to inclusive religion.
But don't be fooled. This was a simply great marketing strategy that worked.
I'm inclined to agree with e_brown.
Yeah, I think Brownie's right. The thing got way too much publicity for it to be a coincidence. And the UCC isn't known to be shy about promoting itself.
Publicity stunt or not, why pull the commecial? Because they have an open door policy to gay people?
That's the issue, not if it was a publicity stunt or not.
I think the networks were right to pull it.
The networks are commercial interests that people watch for entertainment. This ad was designed to be controversial. This ad supports my philosophical point of view, but others might not.
I don't want to watch things that offend me in the middle of the mindless drivel that I usually watch on TV.
Well, as I don't watch much TV at all I probably wouldn't even have known about the existence of this particular ad if it hadn't been for this brilliant stroke of publicity. Now everybody who reads a newspaper or watches or listens to the news knows about it.
C'mon. NBC, the network that brings you "Will & Grace," didn't run the ad because of two men holding hands?
OK, I will play along...
Why, in your opinion, didn't they run the ad?
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