Ad Refusal

Read what people with more coherent thoughts than mine have to say about this United Church of Christ ad here, here (from Leah) and here and here (BuzzMachine). ABC had a segment on the church's on their nightly newscast that showed part of the ad. I watched the ad and don't have a problem with it. I thought it was a clever way of making a much-needed point, and find it disheartening, to say the least, that the major networks--ABC, NBC and CBS won't air it. Fear of the Orwellian FCC has taken a new turn.

What CBS said:

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."

Call me dense but I don't understand that statement.

NBC declared the add too "controversial".  ABC said on their newscast tonight they have a policy against showing "religious" ads, yet the ad is showing on ABC Family, one of the homes--where I live--for the 700 Club.

Here's UCC's news release responding to the above. The main message of the ad: "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."

Too bad they're not welcome on the networks.

Update: ABC seems to be getting little mention as having excluded the ad as well, but here's proof they're exclusing the UCC's message.

A spokesperson at ABC told CNN that "we do not generally accept paid advertising that espouses a particular religious doctrine."

That goes along with what I thought I heard Peter Jennings say tonight on ABC World News Tonight about the network not accepting religious advertising.

Update 2: An actor who appeared in the commercial speaks. Also,to clarify the first update, UCC did not attempt to buy an ad on ABC because of the policy I mentioned before about the network not accepting religious advertising:

Church officials said they did not attempt to buy time on the third major broadcast network, ABC, because it has a blanket policy against religious advertising. But they said the bouncer ad will air on numerous other networks and cable channels, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, Travel, TBS and TNT.

Comments

[Jimmy]

I added an update with the part about ABC as well.

[Jimmy]

You're welcome. I know the UCC press release mentioned just NBC and CBS, but I thought I saw something during the ABC news report tonight that said they didn't air any religious ads as a matter of policy. I'll see if I can track that down for sure, but like you, I don't see the problem with an inclusion message.

[Leah]

thanks for spreading the word. I think ABC is showing it (at least, last I heard they were).

It just makes me livid that this is controversial, but I remember seeing anti-abortion ads on TV too. Like John Thomas said, it's a sad world when a message of inclusion is controversial.