United Church of Christ says CBS, NBC reject its ad
THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - The liberal-leaning United Church of Christ said CBS and NBC rejected its new national ad as too controversial because it alludes to condemnation of gay relationships by some churches.
The 30-second ad launched Wednesday highlights the Cleveland-based UCC's welcoming stance toward homosexuals and anyone else who might feel shunned elsewhere.
The networks said the ad was too controversial to broadcast because it implied exclusion of gay and lesbian couples by other groups, according to the UCC.
A CBS spokesman said gay relationships were a matter of public debate and "we have a long policy of not accepting advocacy advertising."
Messages seeking comment were left Wednesday at NBC's New York and West Coast offices.
The ad was accepted by ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery and TBS, among others, the UCC said.
The UCC's 3 1/2-week, $1.7 million campaign meant to attract new members could be extended into 2005.
The ad shows a muscular bouncer, working a rope line outside a handsome but nameless church, deciding who is eligible to enter and worship.
"No, step aside, please," he says to two men holding hands.
Across the screen comes the message, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." The final scene shows two women embracing.
"We're doing it because we made a discovery: there are lots of people out there who don't know we exist," said Ron Buford, who is coordinating the program for the 1.3 million-member denomination, down from 1.7 million in 1989. The UCC has 6,000 congregations.
The goal of the campaign is to have 60 percent of the U.S. television-watching audience see the ad three or four times. The cost will be paid by UCC headquarters, individual gifts and loans and gifts from regional UCC conferences.
The denomination was founded in 1957 in the merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reform Church.
Authority in the denomination, whose roots include the first mainline church to ordain a woman in 1853, rests with individual congregations.
The Rev. Robert S. Stoudt of Penbrook UCC in Harrisburg, Pa., which was part of a six-city ad test in March and April, said there was concern that the inclusion in the ad of a gay couple rejected by a church but welcomed by the UCC might anger people, but that wasn't the case.
"It has not been a divisive thing for us at all," said Stoudt, whose church of 325 members got 11 new members in a recent class. None of the newcomers was introduced to the UCC by the ads, but seeing the ads clinched the decision to sign up for some, he said.
Mainline church advertising has become more common in recent years, including ads by the Lutherans, Methodists and Mormons.
Ellen Garbarino, assistant professor of marketing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said church advertising, like a pitch for soap, can help provide consumer awareness and lead to sampling. Then it's up to the church to keep a new member, she said.
But the UCC might face a consumer backlash, according to Garbarino, who said people expect ads on cars and candy, not necessarily churches
