A CHURCH that raised eyebrows with a provocative television commercial is resuming its advertising efforts with a campaign that seeks to emulate how the Gospel was spread: by word of mouth.
The campaign is being sponsored by the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination that garnered attention in late 2004 with a commercial that offered a startling perspective on religious diversity and inclusiveness. The spot, which returned last spring, showed two burly bouncers using a red velvet rope to block the entrance to a church, keeping out worshipers whose appearances departed from mainstream norms but letting in those with stereotypical all-American looks.
"Jesus didn't turn people away," the commercial declared. "Neither do we." The spot, created by Gotham in New York, an agency owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, was rejected by two broadcast networks, CBS and NBC, because, they said, it was the kind of advocacy advertising they did not accept.
The church will return on April 3 with a second commercial, also from Gotham, titled "Ejector Pew." The spot depicts a smug, traditional-looking family looking askance as they are joined inside a church by worshipers who are significantly different from them.
Suddenly, the worshipers who are disabled or elderly, or who appear to be gay, Hispanic or of Middle Eastern origin, are forcibly ejected from their seats. "God doesn't reject people," the commercial says. "Neither do we."
This time, the campaign, with a budget estimated at $1.5 million, extends well beyond television. The intent is to stimulate conversation and debate with so-called viral efforts that are to include a substantial online presence, on Web sites and blogs; chain letters, in the form of e-mail messages; audio podcasts; posters; events at local churches; and even merchandise like decals, tote bags, pens and golf balls bearing the phrase "God is still speaking," which is the campaign's theme.
"We've forgotten that the No. 1 way people come to faith is by one person inviting another person," said Ron Buford, the director for the campaign at the United Church of Christ in Cleveland.
"It is reclaiming what is old," Mr. Buford said, adding: "It goes back to the New Testament, the Second Testament. The main line of the early disciples was 'Come and see' — word of mouth."
Mr. Buford is to join other leaders of the church at a news conference, scheduled for today, to describe the campaign.
Michael Jordan, managing partner and creative director at Gotham, who also worked on the first commercial, said, "We hope some of our new initiatives will help us connect in a more personal, community-focused, one-to-one way, consistent with how Christianity has spread for thousands of years."
Computer users will be able to watch the new spot on two church Web sites, stillspeaking.com and rejectionhurts.com; the home page of the latter invites visitors to "share their personal stories of how they felt unwanted or alienated by organized religion."
Plans also call for the commercial to be available on Web sites not affiliated with the church, like YouTube.com, iFilm.com and commercialcloset.org.
"We want to put our message out there in a unique way to make our brand more relevant," said Cort Cunningham, account director at Gotham. "With a limited budget, we want to make sure we stand out."
The new commercial, like the first one, will not be seen on CBS or NBC, Mr. Buford said, because they consider it to be advocacy advertising, in which groups give opinions on controversial subjects as a way to influence public opinion. (ABC has a policy against accepting any commercials about religion.)
More than a dozen cable networks have agreed to run the new spot, Mr. Buford added, listing among them BET, CNN, the History Channel, Nick at Nite, TNT and USA. The first spot also appeared on several cable networks.
The campaign will also run on the radio and in print. The contents will be different from the television commercial, carrying themes like "Our faith is over 2,000 years old. Our thinking is not." and "We don't sing 'Come Some of Ye Faithful.' "
In developing the second commercial, Mr. Buford said, "we decided we wanted one with the same message as before, that everyone was welcome," but he said the church did not intend to be deliberately contentious.
Mr. Jordan of Gotham said: "To change would be to back down. And the U.C.C. is not an institution that traditionally backs down."
To make sure policies match the campaign's promises, Mr. Buford said, the almost 6,000 congregations across the country that are part of the United Church of Christ were asked to adopt what was called an "open and affirming covenant," pledging to welcome all potential worshipers. Of the total, about 42 percent have agreed, representing about 59 percent of the estimated 1.3 million members of the church, he said.
TV networks reject ad from church
Say spot welcoming gays is controversial
- Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
The nation's major television networks have rejected an ad that shows a gay couple and others being banished from a church, saying it violates their rules against controversial or religious advertising.
The 30-second commercial for the United Church of Christ will begin airing on cable networks and Spanish-language stations next week. The ad, called "Ejector," shows a gay couple, a single mother, a disabled man and others flying out of their pews as a wrinkled hand pushes a red button.
Text on the screen reads, "God doesn't reject people. Neither do we," and a voiceover says, "The United Church of Christ. No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here."
The church tried to run a similar ad in December 2004 in which bouncers outside a church stopped gay couples, racial minorities and others from entering. The networks also rejected that ad.
The decision by CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox to decline the latest advertisement shows the networks have a narrow view of acceptable images of gays and lesbians, church leader Ron Buford said Monday.
"They are saying, 'You can entertain on 'Will & Grace' and 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' but when it comes to showing you as whole people with the church, that is going to far," Buford said.
CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs said the network has "a long-standing and well-documented policy of not accepting advocacy advertising."
Kathy Kelly-Brown, a spokeswoman for NBC, said the ad "violates our long-standing policy against airing commercials that deal with issues of public controversy."
Representatives for ABC and Fox were not available for comment, but Buford said both networks had told the church they have policies barring religious advertising.
Buford said CBS executives had told him the subject would be considered advocacy advertising until the inclusion of gays and lesbians is common at churches in the United States.
But Jacobs challenged that statement. "That supposed exchange is simply fictitious," she said.
Starting April 3, the ad will run for three weeks on CNN, USA, TNT, BET and eight other cable networks, along with three Spanish-language stations. The church spent $1.5 million on the ads, which will run through the Easter season.
The church filed a complaint against CBS and NBC affiliates in Miami after the networks rejected the first ad in 2004. That complaint is still pending.
E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.
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