MoveOn raised the $1.6 million it needed to get an anti-Bush spot aired during the Superbowl, only to be turned away at the gate. CBS has rejected the winning ad on the supposed grounds that they don’t do ideology, only product. Although exceptions are being made to air anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. This isn’t the first time money hasn’t been able to buy commercial airtime to express political opinions:
In 1997, anti-consumerist activist Kalle Lasn was rejected when he tried to buy a Thanksgiving Day commercial promoting “Buy Nothing Day,” his anti-shopping initiative. Last year, MTV refused to run an antiwar ad directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple. This year, CBS also turned down a Super Bowl spot that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tried to buy for $2 million.
We so seldom see money not talk. But some forces are even stronger…
Ooh – John Renbourn! My brother took me to see him at our local college theatre when I was about 15. Fantastic – a very talented guy.
So much for the “left-wing media bias” ;-)
I imagine that’s still money talking. Worry about losing other sponsors or losing viewership when they’re labelled, as they’d surely be if they ran an anti-bush ad, “unpatriotic.”
So many potentialy great angles on this story, so many potentialy great debates, yet amazingly, I will gaurantee all media avoids this story like the plague.
What, we’re not media? This isn’t media? You do yourself a disservice.