Major Networks Refuse to Air Gay-Friendly Church Ad
CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC are refusing to air an ad for the United Church of Christ which shows “a gay couple, a single mother and a disabled man flying out of their pews as an unidentified hand pushed a red ‘ejector’ button” with text that reads “The United Church of Christ. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here.”
United Church of Christ leader Ron Buford told AP Monday that the decision of the networks to decline the latest advertisement shows they have a narrow view of acceptable images of gays and lesbians.
“They are saying, ‘You can entertain on ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’, but when it comes to showing you as whole people with the church, that is going to far,” Buford said.
A spokeswoman for NBC explained the decision by saying the ad “violates our long-standing policy against airing commercials that deal with issues of public controversy.”
A spokeswoman for CBS offered a similar answer while spokespeople for ABC and FOX could not be reached by the Associated Press for comment.
CNN, USA, TNT, BET and eight other cable networks, along with three Spanish-language stations, will begin airing the ad on April 3. According to Buford, the church spent $1.5 million on the ads.
You can see the web version of the commercial here:
http://www.ucc.org/commercial.html
I think it was quite tastefully done and it further confirms my theory that the traditional networks are dinosaurs.
NBC avoids airing commercials that involve public controversy? Don’t they run Army recruitment ads?
Thanks for the link, Sue!
Jen, I was thinking the same thing too.
Don’t you guys know that “public controversy” is network-speak for anything either vaguely relating to sex or anything that pisses off the zealot right? Unless it’s during sweeps week in which case it becomes network-speak for “our leading story on tonight’s news”.
[...] I previously posted here about CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC refusing to air this United Church of Christ ad. It was reported on Friday that LOGO, MTV’s channel for “entertainment programming for lesbians and gays and just about anyone who enjoys a gay point of view,” is also refusing to air the church’s commercial “because of the political nature of its content.” Yes, the “gay channel” feels that airing the gay-friendly church ad would be going too far. When asked for an official reason, MTV Networks responded, “Our guidelines state we will not accept religious advertisements that may be deemed as disparaging to another religion.” [...]