CBS needs to work on their definition of ‘issue’ ads

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on January 31, 2004). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Item 1: CBS refuses to run ‘issue advocacy’ ads from MoveOn and PETA during the SuperBowl.

CBS canned a 30-second spot sponsored by the liberal online activist group MoveOn.org. The commercial, which won a celebrity-judged competition for the honor of being MoveOn’s Super Bowl ad, depicts children performing a variety of blue-collar jobs — washing dishes, collecting garbage, working on an assembly line. The tagline near the end of the commercial asks, “Guess who’s going to pay off President Bush’s \$1 trillion deficit?”

The network also spiked a commercial submitted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. That ad featured scantily clad women and suggested that meat-eating might contribute to impotence.

Item 2: CBS debuts first-ever HIV/AIDS commercial during the SuperBowl.

CBS will air what is being called the first-ever HIV/AIDS commercial to be seen during Super Bowl Sunday programming.

Sources within CBS’s parent company, Viacom, tell the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network that the 20-second spot is expected to run in the latter half of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Pre-Game Show, when the most viewers are expected to tune in.

Somehow, these two stories just don’t add up. The CAP has more on CBS’s double standards.

(via Daily Kos)