Posted by
Aaron Miller on Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00:00 PM
During the half-time of the latest Super Bowl, my family and I wondered at a cryptic advertisement that seemed to involve adultery. When we typed in the web address listed at the end of the ad, we were shocked to discover that the site is blatantly devoted to facilitating marital affairs! How could such an ad get airtime during the Super Bowl?
The day after the game, I hopped onto a variety of national news sites. I was shocked again to see that nobody was talking about this! Then I turned to Google and found many articles, published before the Super Bowl, saying the adultery site's ad had been rejected by NBC. Now, I was really confused. What do you mean it was rejected? I just saw it!
Finally,
an explanation arrives, courtesy of Brent Bozell III. NBC did reject the ad, but Houston NBC-affiliate station KPRC accepted it. My family and millions of others did see the ad during the Super Bowl, but it was not aired nationally.
That said, I'm still amazed this story was not covered more (if it was at all) in national news. I contacted conservative media figures like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh at the time; but, to my knowledge, they never reported on the issue.
So what's wrong here? It's been said that even despicable businesses should be able to exist and advertise. I agree. The AshleyMadison "service" is plainly destructive and irresponsible, but such a business does have a right to exist in our free market. However,
nothing requires KPRC Houston or any other media company to accept ads from such businesses. KPRC has clearly demonstrated that it values profit over persons.
I thank NBC for choosing not to air the adultery ad during the Super Bowl (imagine how that would have endeared us to the rest of the world), assuming the company's motivation was social concern and not PR fallout. Unfortunately, NBC also rejected, along with CNN,
a tasteful and subtle pro-life ad. It is their right to do so, but this also reflects company priorities.
You can run a shameful business in a free society, but no one has to host your ads. Your company can host what ads it pleases, but customers don't have to support those ads through purchases.