wfn.org | Famous New York billboard won't show United Methodist ad

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 22, 2003 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
   ALL{504}

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church's invitational message
won't be seen on Times Square's most famous billboard after all.

Plans to place the ad on the giant, 11-screen electronic display were changed
after protests by the Reuters communications company, which shares the host
building with Instinet. 

Reuters' lease forbids the display of signs that are predominantly religious,
political or sexual in nature, said company spokeswoman Samantha Topping in
New York. 

United Methodist Communications signed an agreement Sept. 23 with Outdoor
Television Network Limited of Toronto to feature the denomination's message
of "open hearts, open minds, open doors," along with images from the church's
Igniting Ministry media campaign, on the billboard beginning Nov. 15. The
billboard spans 28 floors of the Reuters and Instinet building and is seen by
an estimated 1.5 million people daily.

A top official with Outdoor said his company erred in making the agreement
for the church's message to be displayed on the billboard.

Outdoor has an agreement with Reuters not to accept any advertising with
messages of religious, political or sexual content, said Ron Walker, chief
executive officer of the advertising agency. When the company signed with
United Methodist Communications, "it was a mistake on our part," he said. 

"Reuters did not choose to make United Methodist Church an outcast," he said.
"It was a purely an oversight on our part. We apologize to the church."

Walker said Outdoor has offered United Methodist Communications an
alternative venue to display "the same message, to the same audience, in a
similar medium in Times Square, at the same time around Thanksgiving, and
offered other opportunities that would be more beneficial to the denomination
in terms of sending a message of goodness."  

The Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications,
said he was "happy to accept Outdoor's apology, and the agency is willing to
work with them to develop a new relationship that will serve our needs for
reaching out to audiences with our messages."

Although Outdoor acknowledged its mistake, Hollon expressed his concern about
Reuters' policy. "A policy that arbitrarily shuts out religious organizations
from speaking in the public marketplace is discriminatory. I will continue to
speak out against such discrimination."

The United Methodist Church should be given the same access and opportunity
to speak in the commercial marketplace as "a company that sells beer," he
said, "and in this circumstance, all we have asked for is fair and equitable
treatment."

United Methodist Communications, based in Nashville, launched Igniting
Ministry in 2001 to raise awareness of the denomination through a series of
national cable television commercials. The campaign also includes radio spots
and non-broadcast ads, matching grants, training resources and a Web
presence. The church's top legislative assembly, meeting in 2000, approved
funding the initiative with almost $20 million for a four-year period.	

The United Methodist Church has 10 million members in the United States,
Africa, Asia and Europe.
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*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer in Nashville, Tenn.
UMNS, the news agency of the United Methodist Church, is a unit of United
Methodist Communications.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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