The Lead

The decision by CBS to accept advocacy ads for this year's Super Bowl seems to be the weak demand for advertising. By accepting a Focus on the Family ad, CBS has broken with its past policy not to accept such ads. The ad will feature Tim Tebow and his mother. It is said the ad will touch on faith and abortion.

The United Church of Christ has more:

In 2004, CBS said it was rejecting the UCC's "Bouncer" ad as "too controversial" because it allegedly advocated same-sex marriage. The UCC maintained this was a gross mischaracterization of the ad's intent which, instead, was to demonstrate that all people, including gay and lesbian people, should be welcome in the church. The church quickly filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, a petition that was dismissed by FCC staff in 2007 and never given full consideration by FCC Commissioners.

The UCC's second ad, "Ejector," which debuted in early 2005 was also rejected by the networks and their wholly-owned cable networks, including LOGO, a channel that targets lesbian and gay viewers.
...
[T]he UCC encountered a similar situation in early 2005 when it sought airtime on the ABC network, only to be told that ABC did not accept any religious advertising. The very next month, [a UCC spokesperson] said, Focus on the Family was allowed primetime advertising on ABC's SuperNanny show.

Controversial? See for yourself.

Although CBS has changed its policy, the UCC does not plan a media buy. It's focusing on saving lives in Haiti:

Our media-buying plan, at present, does not include spending $2.5 million for a single 30-second Super Bowl ad. Our current churchwide fundraising is very much focused on recovery and long term rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Comments (5)

$2.5 million? wow- that would go a long way to help Haiti. Tim Tebow - who cares what he thinks about abortion.

Posted by Ann Fontaine | January 27, 2010 5:59 PM

Exactly one image of a female couple.

Posted by Josh Thomas | January 27, 2010 6:00 PM

Josh look closer, it was a male couple, the first folks rejected. You next saw two sisters enter as a part of an acceptable nuclear family of four. Then the rejection of an asian guy, a latina woman and a guy in a wheelchair.

Posted by David Allen |dah • veed| | January 27, 2010 7:41 PM

Reminds me henceforth to root against any team Tebow ever plays for. [SF 49ers, please don't draft him!]

JC Fisher

Posted by tgflux | January 28, 2010 9:54 PM

Rather than advertise against an abortion he'll never be in a position to have to consider, why doesn't Tim Tebow ever use his sports celebrity to tell men and boys not to treat females as sex objects and not to treat sex irresponsibly as recreation? After all, that's how unplanned pregnancies occur, which leads to some abortions. Or is Tebow too timid to challenge his fan base's notions of machismo? Why does the unplanned pregnancy and abortion argument always focus on women? It takes two to tango. Men bear a large part of the responsibility in this issue too -- especially those who pressure women into sex.

Gregory Orloff

Posted by Gregory | January 29, 2010 9:58 AM

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