CNN Won't Run Anti-Abortion Ad Featuring Obama
CNN is refusing to run an anti-abortion TV commercial because the ad’s makers did not get the permission of President Obama to make the ad (see video below). The ad tracks the life of Obama over images of in-utero fetuses. On-screen captions say:
This child’s future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure … this child … will become … the 1st African-American President.
CNN doesn’t accept advocacy ads that portray personal decisions in a manner that suggests a position in favor of the advocacy message, without having permission of the persons involved. CNN is not accepting this particular advocacy ad because it deals with a highly personal and private matter and does so without the consent of those involved.
The ad was made by CatholicVote.com. They’re not happy about it:
This is absurd. Our ad does not suggest that Barack Obama is pro-life. Instead, we make the obvious point that Obama’s mother gave birth to a child that ultimately became the 1st African American President. This is a fact, not an opinion.
BNET’s take: This is a fake controversy. Here’s how it works: You make an ad that you know a network will never agree to air, ask for it to be aired, and then claim you’re being censored when the network declines to take your money. The “controversy” generated drives viewers to search out the ad on the web (usually YouTube) and the sponsor gets a much larger number of viewers than they would have had the ad been aired in the first place.
- See BNET’s previous coverage of fake advertising controversies:
- Calvin Klein’s “Banned” Orgy Ad Is Part of Predictable Fake Controversy Trend
- PETA’s “banned” Super Bowl commercial features mostly naked models doing suggestive things with vegetables.
- GoDaddy traditionally runs a “tame” version of its sexy ad on the Super Bowl and carries an “uncut” version on its web site.
- Los Angeles-based ad shop Cesario Migliozzi attempted to buy a Super Bowl ad and then auction off the ad in seconds-long chunks to other advertisers.
- Apparel maker Weatherproof was “banned” from buying a 2-second ad on the Super Bowl.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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