CBS’ policy shift on Super Bowl ad opens up hornet’s nest

LOS ANGELES — CBS Corp.,
acknowledging Tuesday that it has changed its policy and now accepts
commercials that advocate political causes, defended its decision to
run a politically sensitive advertisement during next month’s Super
Bowl.

The thicket that CBS
finds itself in could become increasingly common for TV networks and
local stations. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a decades-old
prohibition that prevented corporations from buying ads and financing
candidates and campaigns. Now, media analysts are predicting that as
much as $500 million in corporate money could flood
this year’s political campaigns, unleashing a torrent of issue
advertising that will force TV executives to weigh the ever-shifting
debate about which commercials cross the line.

The CBS Super Bowl commercial, sponsored by the evangelical Christian group Focus on the Family, features Florida college football star Tim Tebow and his missionary mother, Pam, discussing her decision 23 years ago to
continue with her pregnancy despite complications. That pregnancy gave
birth to her Heisman-Trophy winning son.

Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., and founded by James Dobson,
described its first Super Bowl advertisement as a celebration of
“family and life (and) comes at the right moment in the culture,
because families need to be inspired.”

CBS’ decision on the
Tebow ad comes as networks and TV stations have struggled for revenue
amid a weak advertising market. Until recently, networks were routinely
able to command higher rates each year for Super Bowl commercials, but
that ended with the recession. CBS has been selling 30-second spots in the Feb. 7 Super Bowl for about $2.7 million — slightly less than NBC was able to command for last year’s game — and still has several advertisements left to sell.

A CBS
spokesman said the Tebow commercial was subjected to the “full
standards process that all ads go through” and accepted only after the
script was reviewed.

The network nonetheless finds itself in a difficult position because, several years ago, CBS
rejected ads — some intended for the Super Bowl — from left-leaning
organizations, including MoveOn.org, People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals and the United Church of Christ, which advocates gay rights.

CBS’ shift in policy has
galvanized a coalition of organizations, which have been urging the
network to reject the Tebow ad on the grounds that it offends Americans
who believe that “reproductive decisions should be left to a woman and
her physician.”

“CBS
has had a well-documented position that it would not accept ads about
contentious or controversial subjects,” said Jehmu Greene, president of
the New York
based Women’s Media Center, which is spearheading the campaign. “I
don’t think there is another issue in our society as contentious and
controversial as abortion. There is some very strong hypocrisy at work.”

Seeking to clarify its position, CBS
released a statement Tuesday that said most other media outlets accept
issue advertisements. “We have for some time moderated our approach to
advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not
reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue.”

But if advocates on either side of the debate were hoping CBS
would reverse its policy shift, they are likely out of luck. The
network said that it would “continue to consider responsibly produced
ads from all groups for the few remaining spots in Super Bowl XLIV.”

When CBS rejected other issue advertisements by liberal groups, George W. Bush was president and a majority of the commissioners of the Federal
Communications Commission were Republicans. Moreover, the network
already had a painful run-in with regulators after it was slapped with
fines following Janet Jackson’s display of her bare breast during the half time of the 2004 Super Bowl.

Critics of CBS’
policy shift said the network succumbed to financial pressures. “They
are more concerned about their bottom line than fair play,” Greene said.

For last year’s Super Bowl, an NBC station rejected an anti-abortion ad that contained images of a fetus. NBC
also rejected an commercial from PETA because it showed women handling
vegetables in sexually suggestive ways. Greene said that CBS should follow suit.

Her non-profit group is joined by others including
the National Organization for Women, Physicians for Reproductive Choice
and Health and the California Council of Churches IMPACT.

The groups’ lobbying of CBS prompted others to voice support of the network’s decision.

“I can understand why CBS
might not want to offend viewers by using it airwaves for a hard-core,
pro-life, anti-abortion ad that might be upsetting to people. But this
is not that kind of an ad,” said Brent Bozell, president of the conservative watchdog organization, Media Research Center.

He said other CBS
actions, including accepting Go Daddy ads, which typically feature
big-breasted women, or broadcasting the Victoria’s Secret runway
fashion show, were more objectionable.

“That offends a whole lot more women than this advertisement will,” Bozell said. “The last thing that CBS should do is buckle under the pressure of this pressure group.”

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