Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Take Action -- Contact Advertisers!

After being alerted by GoodAsYou and Dan Savage about GLAAD's Media Alert regarding yesterday's episode of 30 Days on FX, I decided to compile a list of the advertisers who supported last night's bigoted broadcast.

The most surprising advertisements to me were from Subaru of New England and Bacardi. Bacardi aired the same ads that I see running on Logo every night during Queer As Folk, including a "Drink Responsibly" ad that features gays and lesbians.

Here's a boilerplate letter I've written:


I was disappointed to see your company's advertisement during the June 24th broadcast of '30 Days' on FX. Despite repeated contact from GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), FX refused to alter the content of the episode.

In the episode, a woman opposed to gay and lesbian parenting spends a month living with a gay couple who are raising four children. Early in the episode, there is an "expert" interview Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council. Mr. Sprigg is the only "expert" presented in the episode, and he had the following to say about gay and lesbian parents:

Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse, and those are all reasons for us to be concerned about placing children into that kind of setting.

All credible scientific information disagrees with Mr. Sprigg, but FX refused to air any balancing commentary from experts at organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, or any of the many other child health and social services authorities who support parenting by qualified lesbian and gay parents and dispute Sprigg’s claim.

Your advertisement supports the production of this defamatory content. Your company's presence lends credence to the bigotry set forth by Mr. Sprigg.

Does your company believe that gays and lesbians are dangerous people from whom children should be protected? Based on your advertising, I can only assume so.

Should gay and lesbian families (and those who support their existence) avoid doing business with your company? I don't want my hard-earned money being spent on advertising that supports the creation of more hate-filled content like this.


The advertisers during last night's broadcast were:

Buffalo Wild Wings

Bacardi (2 Ads plus "Drink Responsibly" PSA)

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd DVD


Miller Lite
Miller Brewing Company
3939 W. Highland Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
414-931-2000

Cadillac (3 Ads)

Pizza Hut


Absolut (2 Ads, plus one sponsorship announcement: "30 Days is brought to you by Absolut Vodka.")

KFC (2 Ads)

Country Crock


Hellboy 2: The Golden Army


Subway (2 Ads)

Smirnoff (2 Ads)

Journey to the Center of the Earth


Vantage Point
Columbia Pictures
10202 West Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232-3195
United States
310-244-4000

Verizon FiOS
Verizon Communications
140 West Street
New York, NY 10007

Dave and Buster's
Dave & Buster's World Headquarters
2481 Manana Drive
Dallas, TX 75220
214-357-9588

Coor's Light
(2 Ads)

Samsung


Nutrisystem


And here in Massachusetts, we had a couple of local ads:

Subaru of New England

Boch Collision Center


Write to these advertisers, especially if you use their products!

1 comment:

  1. thanks for putting this together, I've sent out my emails expressing my disgust with their choice of programs to sponsor.

    ReplyDelete