DNC billboard rejected for being ‘too negative’

December 2, 2005

After Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) lashed out at Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), calling him a “coward” for advocating troop redeployment in Iraq, the DNC had an idea: Schmidt and others like her deserve a billboard.

From this day forward, the Democratic Party will commit to putting up a “Shame on You” billboard in the home district of any Republican who attacks a veteran’s service in order to score political points.

The first billboard will go up near Jean Schmidt’s district office in Portsmouth, Ohio. The message: “Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans. Keep Your Eye on the Ball — We Need a Real Plan for Iraq”.

Dems responded well to the idea and 7,000 people donated to the project, more than enough to pay for the project. The billboard was set to go up this week — until Lamar, an ad company in the area, said the billboard was “too negative.” DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon said today:

Unfortunately, at about 10 AM, we got two phone calls — the first came from Lamar’s Cincinnati office informing us that because of the content of the ad, they are refusing to continue to work with us. The second call came a few minutes later from Lamar’s Huntington, West Virginia office, informing us that despite our signed contract, they were also rejecting our ad. This reversal came more than 24 hours after the DNC had signed a contract with Lamar, and 48 hours after they had accepted the artwork for the billboards you helped pay to put up.

By rejecting these ads, Lamar has limited your right to be heard.

Indeed it has. The DNC is threatening a lawsuit, which makes this a controversy worth watching.

On a related note, is it me, or is this part of a trend? Fox News rejected an anti-Alito ad; CBS rejected a MoveOn.org ad; CBS and NBC refused advertising from the United Church of Christ because the church’s open, tolerant message of inclusion was labeled “too controversial“; and a Clear Channel station refused to air an anti-war ad featuring Cindy Sheehan.

What ever happened to “the public’s airwaves”?

December 2, 2005 at 12:32 pm

Read The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock and wonder no more whether this is coincidence.

The profit motive is actually owned by cowards.

If broadcasters were proud to serve the public, they would run these controversial ads with a disclaimer that say they “vigorously support right of free speech” and also say that the broadcaster “does NOT endorse the message or content” of the ad.

Broadcasters are so damn lazy, they can’t be courageous.

I’m sure the next thing they will do is take DrugRush and O’Liely off the air for being so negative all the time.

Racerx–that is an interesting point. I wonder how many billboards, if any, that company has advertising shows like Rush, O’Pileithighly, and the like.

I also wonder if a grass roots campaign to publicly boycott other companies that use that billboard company might work.

Since they started this game, its time to reject these organizations products and services. Target would be a good place to start since they allow their local stores employees to decide what perscriptions will be filled. I already started boycotting Target Stores. Who’s with me?

Nice post Carpetbagger.

You’ve hit a huge optic nerve here.

And your ability to recall the near past gives this post its power.

Clearly, this subject deserves its OWN articulate blog.

We’ve got Jane, CB, Kevin, Josh, and Kos…

Now we need someone with some shrewd verbal skills to latch onto this subject and give it some long term bite.

This wants doing…

[Aside: And… if it is already being done–it wants magnification, because it is not on my trail of websites visited, and probably not on most folks web itinerary either.]

I’m still waiting for an American radical comeback, accompanied by some sort of intense, justified, violence directed at appropriate targets, news media in particular. I wonder if it would ever happen?

With so many damn trial lawyers you think Dems would be all over this. But such would be a fantasy world where lying politicians are hounded out of office and Democrats could get a message and stick to it.

Pelosi is a detriment, along with the DLC in general. Frankly, I don’t care how principled or intelligent a politician is if they can’t (1) win an election, (2) speak out and generate news once they do, and (3) shoot with live ammo. The sad truth is (and given the hundreds of thousands dead from the war, the billions lost and near anarchy resulting from political farces like FEMA’s response, etc. ad nauseum, it is truly sad), the best thing that could happen to this country was Bush “winning” again. Here’s an opportunity to allow the neo-cons and fundies to hang themselves and sweep in the kind of progressive change people are hungry for. So what are Democrats doing? Flip flopping over whether to support a war veteran speaking out against the war?

When the halls of Congress rang out with the type of fury you only hear watching BBC coverage of the House of Lords, I honestly believed the Dems had reached the critical point where they would strike back at the lies and the death with something amounting to courage and conviction. I’m still waiting.

If corporate America makes our dollars off limits, then citizens need to fight back the old fashioned way. The DNC should start selling signs and bumper stickers that people can place in their cars, yards and windows to express themselves.

Even better, raise money and give buttons out for free to people willing to wear them. Buttons were popular during the Vietnam War. Big, bright buttons with “Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans” would get a few conservations started in checkout lines.

Ahhhh…I meant to say “few conversations started!”

I agree with just about everyone here, particularly Bubba’s boycott suggestion and Eadie’s question about the Dems’ trial lawyers. And Koreyel’s right about CB’s ability to recall recent history, too.

Who the hell is Lamar? Does it own Schmidthead’s congressional district? Is it a closed market? Could loyal Dems have small posters to put in their windows or out on their lawns? Are any of them phoning the hate radio shows in that district? Is an opponent being groomed, and funded, for next year?

I understand where you’re coming from, but in this case, the Dems are all over this. DNC lawyers immediately went berzerk and, just this morning, started talking very seriously about filing suit over this. In fact, the DNC probably will use this as a rallying cry and not let up until that billboard is up.

I know it’s frustrating at times to think the Dems don’t play hardball as often as they should, but this probably isn’t going to be one of those instances.

Everyone should give Lamar a call and express your dissatisfaction about thier choice

(225) 926-1000 is the corporate phone number

The DNC blog has a few items up about Lamar. This is an apparent pattern:

Your Billboard… Denied

Billboard Company Rejects Your Ads