Hypocrisy in Advertising Policy Alive & Well At CBS

The hypocrisy of the year award has got to go to CBS. If you remember, there was quite a protest by pro-choice organizations about CBS’ decision to air during the Super Bowl an ad featuring Tim Tebow, paid for by Focus on the Family—a politically influential evangelical group founded by James Dobson. The ad, whose slogan is "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life," features Tebow—who wrapped up his University of Florida career with a Sugar Bowl win this month—and his mom, Pam.

Pam reminisces about being pregnant with Tim while on a missionary trip in the Philippines. She fell ill and was advised to have an abortion. She ignored the advice, and the rest is BCS Championship history.

There was a call from a large number of women’s advocacy organizations to pull the Tebow ads. But, in an interview with Reuters, CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said that they no longer had a blanket filter on advocacy submissions for ad slots. "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue.”

But what about the commercial CBS turned down for airing in the Super Bowl—an ad for GoDaddy.com, in which a retired football player "finds his feminine side" and launches a lingerie company? And, in early February, the CBS Corporation and Neutron Media Screen Marketing rejected a paid advertisement from the NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) that was intended to appear on the CBS Super Screen billboard in New York City's Times Square.

The fifteen-second ad, which asserts that taxing and regulating the adult use and sale of marijuana would raise billions of dollars in national revenue, was scheduled to appear on CBS' 42nd Street digital billboard beginning on Monday, February 1, 2010.

Representatives from Neutron Media approached NORML in mid-January about placing the ad, which was scheduled to air 18 times per day for a two-month period. The NORML Foundation entered into a contractual agreement with Neutron Media to air two separate NORML advertisements, and produced an initial ad exclusively for broadcast on the CBS digital billboard. Days after NORML submitted the ad, the organization received the following e-mail, dated February 3, from a Neutron Media representative which stated, "I just received word from CBS and they will not approve your ad. If CBS changes their morals we will let you know."

I think all ads should run—regardless of their advocacy position. So, in the interests of equal time, see the GoDaddy.com ad at http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/01/post-168.html.php). NORML's 15-second animated advertisement is available online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqW9Kj8DVU.