Quite OT: NYTimes.com Article: TV Ads Say S.U.V. Owners Support Terrorists

[nealtovsen@yahoo.com (Neal Tovsen)]

I thought I'd post this since it has been a hot issue
in the past. Whether you agree with it or not, it sure
does make you think, eh?

Neal

> 
> TV Ads Say S.U.V. Owners Support Terrorists
> 
> January 8, 2003
> By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - Ratcheting up the debate over
> sport
> utility vehicles, new television commercials suggest
> that
> people who buy the vehicles are supporting
> terrorists. The
> commercials are so provocative that some television
> stations are refusing to run them. 
> 
> Patterned after the commercials that try to
> discourage drug
> use by suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go
> to
> terrorists, the new commercials say that money for
> gas
> needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists. 
> 
> "This is George," a girl's voice says of an
> oblivious man
> at a gas station. "This is the gas that George
> bought for
> his S.U.V." The screen then shows a map of the
> Middle East.
> "These are the countries where the executives bought
> the
> oil that made the gas that George bought for his
> S.U.V."
> The picture switches to a scene of armed terrorists
> in a
> desert. "And these are the terrorists who get money
> from
> those countries every time George fills up his
> S.U.V." 
> 
> A second commercial depicts a series of ordinary
> Americans
> saying things like: "I helped hijack an airplane";
> "I gave
> money to a terrorist training camp in a foreign
> country";
> "What if I need to go off-road?" 
> 
> At the close, the screen is filled with the words:
> "What is
> your S.U.V. doing to our national security?" 
> 
> The two 30-second commercials are the brainchild of
> the
> author and columnist Arianna Huffington. Her target
> audience, she said, is Detroit and Congress,
> especially the
> Republicans and Democrats who last year voted
> against a
> bill, sponsored by Senators John McCain, Republican
> of
> Arizona, and John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts,
> that
> would have raised fuel-efficiency standards. 
> 
> Spokesmen for the automakers dismissed the
> commercials.
> 
> 
> Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of
> Automobile
> Manufacturers, said of Ms. Huffington, "Her opinion
> is
> out-voted every year by Americans who buy S.U.V.'s
> for
> their safety, comfort and versatility." He said that
> S.U.V.'s now account for 21 percent of the market. 
> 
> In an interview, Senator Kerry distanced himself
> from the
> commercials. He said that rather than oppose
> S.U.V.'s
> outright, he believed they should be more efficient.
> 
> 
> "I haven't seen these commercials," he said, "but
> anybody
> can drive as large an S.U.V. as they want, though it
> can be
> more efficient than it is today." 
> 
> Ms. Huffington's group, which calls itself the
> Detroit
> Project, has bought almost $200,000 of air time for
> the
> commercials, to run from Sunday to Thursday. While
> the
> group may lose some viewers if stations refuse to
> run the
> advertisements, the message is attracting attention
> through
> news coverage. 
> 
> The advertisements are to be broadcast on "Meet The
> Press,"
> "Face the Nation" and "This Week With George
> Stephanopoulos" in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York
> and
> Washington. 
> 
> But some local affiliates say they will not run
> them. At
> the ABC affiliate in New York, Art Moore, director
> of
> programming, said, "There were a lot of statements
> being
> made that were not backed up, and they're talking
> about
> hot-button issues." 
> 
> Ms. Huffington said she got the idea for the
> commercials
> while watching the antidrug commercials, sponsored
> by the
> Bush administration. In her syndicated column, she
> asked
> readers if they would be willing to pay for "a
> people's ad
> campaign to jolt our leaders into reality." 
> 
> She said she received 5,000 e-mail messages and
> eventually
> raised $50,000 from the public. Bigger contributors
> included Steve Bing, the film producer; Larry David,
> the
> comedian and "Seinfeld" co-creator; and Norman Lear,
> the
> television producer. 
> 
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/08/business/media/08SUVS.html?ex=1043054359&ei=1&en=9c2426a0be9a21a2
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company


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