Two major television networks have rejected advertisements that stress a Protestant denomination's inclusiveness.
The United Church of Christ announced Nov. 30 that negotiations with NBC and CBS officials over the TV spots had broken down. NBC executives told church leaders the ad was “too controversial,” and CBS officials cited the White House's support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in rejecting the ad.
The ad-which can be viewed on the UCC communications office's website at www.stillspeaking.com-features two muscular male “bouncers” standing guard at the door of a picturesque church building. A male couple, holding hands, approach the bouncers, who deny them entrance. The bouncers then let a young white family through while rejecting a young African-American woman and a man who appears to be Latino.
The scene is interrupted by text that reads, “Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we.” Then, as a multiethnic and age-diverse group of people pose, smiling, inside what appears to be a church sanctuary, a narrator says, “The United Church of Christ: No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here.”
According to a document that UCC officials provided to Associated Baptist Press, CBS' program practices division initially withheld approval for the ad Feb. 19, saying, “Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact that the executive branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the networks.”
A UCC spokesperson said that, despite the early rejection of the ad, the church understood itself to be in continuing negotiations over the ads until their final rejection by both networks Nov. 30.
Officials at ABC also rejected the ad, but UCC leaders did not protest because that network cited a policy of declining any advertising from any religious group.
A CBS spokesperson would not speak on the record about the controversy other than to say that the network “has a long-standing policy of not accepting advocacy ads or issue-oriented ads.” According to published accounts in the Washington Post and the New York Times, NBC executives cited a similar policy. NBC officials did not return requests for comment from an Associated Baptist Press reporter by press time for this story.
CBS and NBC officials also reportedly said the ads were rejected because they appeared to set up a contrast between the progressive UCC-the nation's only major Protestant denomination to support same-sex marriages and the ordination of openly gay clergy-and other denominations.
But that was not the ad's intention, said UCC spokesperson Barb Powell. “I'll first say how surprised we were that they deemed the ads controversial, because we just thought they were ads about Jesus' extravagant welcome,” she said. “To us the ads are clearly allegorical-there's no church with bouncers in front in real life.”
She also said the ads were not aimed exclusively at changing public attitudes about homosexuality but rather at drawing in “unchurched people” who have felt excluded by organized religion “for whatever reason.”
“That's what the commercial is about-it's about the simple message that Jesus welcomes everyone, and we strive to welcome everyone as well.”
Despite its rejection, the ads are airing on several other broadcast and cable networks, including Fox, ABC Family, BET and TBS.
It is part of a $30 million multiyear advertising campaign designed to promote the UCC and help it gain new members. The denomination has about 1.3 million members and 6,000 affiliated congregations nationwide.
Associated Baptist Press