Lamar, CBS, Clear Channel Ban Obama Birth Certificate Billboards
Lamar Advertising, CBS Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor have all agreed not to sell billboard space to World Net Daily, a conservative news site that believes President Obama does not have a U.S. birth certificate. WND has raised $75,000 to put up outdoor ads that say, “Where’s the birth certificate?” (pictured).
The “ban” isn’t surprising because Obama was, of course, born in Honolulu and is, in fact, American. You can read a thoroughly sourced Snopes article here, which includes an image of the newspaper announcement of his birth, and see a certification of his birth here.
None of this has deterred the crazies, who believe the president has somehow involved every single state health official in Hawaii, and both the newspapers there, in a 50-year coverup of his origins. Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, said:
I never fully realized how dangerous it is that the media in this country are so afraid of government power.
He is clearly not familiar with Lamar’s litigation department, which has devoted untold thousands of dollars in multiple attempts to convince U.S. courts that Lamar is not subject to any type of statute or regulation except the First Amendment, which guarantees its right to do whatever it wants with its billboards, wherever it wants.
If there’s one thing you can’t accuse Lamar of, it’s being afraid of government.
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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