Groups Pressure CBS to Pull Super Bowl Pro-Life Ad

The Women's Media
Center, National
Organization for Women and more than two dozen other groups have launched a
campaign to pressure CBS into pulling a Super Bowl "pro-life" ad
bought by Focus on the Family.

That campaign includes a letter it delivered to CBS Tuesday
(Jan. 26), according to a spokeswoman, and e-mails its members are sending
today to CBS, the NFL, and advertisers in the game.

The
letter
calls on CBS to reject what the groups call an anti-choice ad that
advances Focus on the Family's Agenda.

They point out that CBS has rejected advocacy ads in the
past, including from PETA, MoveOn.org and the United Church of Christ.

The spot in question is expected to feature Florida Gators
quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother talking about
how she refused to have an abortion after she was advised to do so by doctors.

A CBS spokesperson had told B&C's Claire Atkinson last week that the network
had vetted the spot's script and did not expect to have any trouble with the
video. "It is not inflammatory or divisive," a CBS exec told Atkinson last
week.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.