DTM Commentary: Chrysler, Focus On The Family, and the Superbowl

Published January 20th, 2010 | 6 Comments

I first started writing this post awhile back when Chrysler announced that it was going to advertise during the Superbowl. I noticed right after the announcement that there was a lot of chatter on Advertising Age and a few other sites that showed some real outrage over the idea of a company that received bailout money from the government using some of that money for such a massive media buy.

Then, earlier this week, there as an announcement that the fundamental Christian group, Focus On The Family, was allowed to purchase media time during the Big Game as well. There is a certain amount of outrage around this announcement as well, but it’s more about the fact that CBS has a long history of rejecting advocacy groups like PETA and MoveOn.org and they’re letting this one squeak in the lineup.

However, one thing I think people are missing here is that another thing to be outraged about for the Focus On The Family media buy is very similar to the Chrysler issue – money, or spending money unwisely.

Dead Tree Media isn’t a news site, it’s an opinion site, so here’s my opinion of this whole mess.

First of all, getting pissed at Chrysler for advertising at the Superbowl because it took bailout money is kind of crazy. When the government bailed out Chrysler, the citizens of the United States basically became part owners of the company. It is in our own best interest to make sure this company bounces back and bounces back big because it means they will pay us back, with interest… just like a bunch of banks did in 2009 (to the tune of a profit of over $55 billion, by the way). Now I’m not saying we should all just blindly go out and start buying Chryslers, but shouldn’t we want to make sure that a company we’re invested in so heavily is doing everything it possibly can to succeed? Yes, I get it, you’re pissed we did the bailout in the first place, but having it fail miserably at this point would be a lot worse.

I know what you’re thinking, at $2.8 million for a 30 second spot, and probably less than twice that for the 60 second spot Chrysler bought, that’s a pretty hefty spend. Here’s the thing though, media buys for the Superbowl are mother expensive because they talk to an absolutely mind-numbing amount of people at once. Seriously, doing ads during The Big Game has been known to make or break businesses, crash unprepared servers, sell out inventory, and so on. The spots are not expensive just to be expensive, they’re expensive because they friggin’ work like a charm.

So, go Chrysler, go. Go balls. Go big. Make it work so we get our loan back and then some.

Now, Focus On The Family is a couple of different stories. For one, it’s going to be a damn advocacy ad – period. CBS says they’ve “reviewed the script” and it’s cool. However, the ad is going to feature Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother, who in an interview in 2007, talked about how she was advised to abort her pregnancy for medical reasons, but she held tight and had this Christian football machine. That’s enough of a hint to tell you the ad is going to be a pro-life message… oh, and the fact that the advocacy group has already admitted that the ad will carry a pro-life message.

I don’t care what side of this argument you’re on, this is really just about setting standards and holding to them no matter who comes a knockin’ and how bad business is right now. So, CBS, if you’re going to let Focus On The Family buy a spot on your network carrying a pro-life advocacy message, then you have to let PETA and MoveOn.org do the same thing. It’s really that simple.

Now here’s the money thing. Besides the fact that this whole thing appears to be an instance of CBS letting an advocacy group in the door because they need the cash, Focus On The Family is having its own bailout-type issues. No, it hasn’t been given bailout money from the government. However, they did lay off a large amount of their staff over the last couple of years because of poor cash management.

People in California might remember the group Focus On The Family because they spent over $600,000 trying to get the anti-gay marriage proposition, “Prop 8″, passed here in 2008. (Plus, some auto parts heiress that sits on their board threw another $450,000 at it as well). They spent so much money trying to get that passed that they had to lay off over 200 people. So, apparently, the “family” in Focus On The Family doesn’t include gay families or even families that work for Focus On The Family.

Focus On The Family has stated that the money for the Super Bowl spot came from another donor who wanted it specifically to go to this cause. You know why they said that? Because they knew the question would come up. Here’s why I’m pissed at them, beyond the purely political stuff; if you have donors that are willing to throw that much money at your cause, use some of it to hire back the people you had to lay off because of the last cause you over-backed.

Apparently, people will freak the hell out when Chrysler tries to get people in the showroom by buying a Super Bowl ad, but when Focus On The Family does it for pro-life purposes, despite the fact that people at their offices are losing their jobs, “go them?”

People of Earth, that’s kinda effed up, and CBS, get your shit together.

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Written by Jeff Ferguson
Jeff Ferguson is an internet marketer, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, public speaker and is usually only this angry when talking about poorly made advertising or people who think gum is a food group.

hilarious_stuff

Focus on the families money comes from donors who support their message and chose to send money to them. Most Americans did not want the auto industry bailout, yet taxes were forcibly taken from me and given to them. There in lies the difference. I'm in California on furloughs, so I know what it is to not be bringing home the bucks you did in the past, and I quite frankly would like to see the ad aired. You also refer to ads rejected in past years, completely ignoring that there has been a policy change and that they have openly put out there that this year they are accepting advocacy ads, leaving an opening for PETA, NOW and other advocacy groups to jump on the bandwagon if they want. What do you think CBS executives really secretly want to convert everyone to pro-life/Christianity? LOL, they care about money. Get with the program champ, I would argue perhaps you ought to “get your sh*t together”
http://www.deadtreemedia.com Jeff @ Dead Tree Media

Wow, did you just call me “champ”? You know that discredits everything you said before that right?

Focus on the Family's (possessive) money can come from pixies and it still wouldn't make it OK for them to use it to spread the word with a massively expensive Super Bowl ad when they had laid a bunch of people off work… especially since they ad isn't going to help them sell more product. Maybe they'll see some more donations from this, but given their history of poor spending decisions, they'll probably screw that up, too.

Now these Most Americans did not want the bailout, but then again, this group has a memory of about a second and a half and forgot that generally, when we bail out someone, we get our money back in spades, like we're already started to see happen with the banks. I'll tell you who did want it, all the people that Chrysler kept in employment from not shutting down.

And, why yes, I did see that the policy changed and if you would have paid attention you would have seen that my point was that this was ALL ABOUT MONEY and had little to do with the message that this goofy ad was throwing out there. The problem is that the policy needed to change during the good times, not just the bad, so CBS just looks like a pack of right wing assholes rather than greedy TV executives.

But, thanks for stopping by… um, “Pops”…
hilarious_stuff

Why do you think Focus on the Family's job is to employ people? People don't send them money for a stimulus package, they send them money to distribute a message that those donating agree with.

Not only is it OK, it's what people handing over the $ intend them to do, get the message out with no concern as to how many people it employs. In fact, I would be willing to bet that many people think this is their wisest spending decision- by your same bailout=money back in spades, then for focus on the family mass market super bowl ad will likely mean getting donations in spades, which can then be used for more ads, not to employ more folks. Honestly, if one person could get the message out as effectively by himself, would people donate less? Doubt it.

I question the notion that CBS looks like a pack of right wing assholes as a result- in fact I would say they are probably more liberal as is typically the case with media bias (CBS is not FOX) and took a conservative ad because they are proving more important than their politics is the almighty dollar, they are greedy TV executives. If the policy had changed during good times, then it would look like they approved of the message.

lol

Lil oversensitive about the champ thing. While the “pops” thing was cute I'm female.
Anonymous

Why do you think Focus on the Family’s job is to employ people? People don’t send them money for a stimulus package, they send them money to distribute a message that those donating agree with.

Not only is it OK, it’s what people handing over the $ intend them to do, get the message out with no concern as to how many people it employs. In fact, I would be willing to bet that many people think this is their wisest spending decision- by your same bailout=money back in spades, then for focus on the family mass market super bowl ad will likely mean getting donations in spades, which can then be used for more ads, not to employ more folks. Honestly, if one person could get the message out as effectively by himself, would people donate less? Doubt it.

I question the notion that CBS looks like a pack of right wing assholes as a result- in fact I would say they are probably more liberal as is typically the case with media bias (CBS is not FOX) and took a conservative ad because they are proving more important than their politics is the almighty dollar, they are greedy TV executives. If the policy had changed during good times, then it would look like they approved of the message.

lol

Lil oversensitive about the champ thing. While the “pops” thing was cute I’m female.
http://www.deadtreemedia.com Jeff @ Dead Tree Media

Oddly, I said nothing that can be construed as “Focus on the Family's job is to employ people.” This is actually a pretty classic poor debate move, to pick a philosophical fight when there wasn't one before. So the real question is, why are you asking?

Anyway, while you're correct, their job is to deploy their particular brand of crazy, they need people to make that happen. Now, no matter if you're making cars or wacky statements about the gays, you still need people to go about your business. But somewhere along the line, FOTF lost sight of that and spent so much money going after a gay marriage issue in another state that they had to lay off a bunch of people. In any other company, this type of behavior would get you shit canned, but instead, the people running the show there were given an even larger donation to run a super bowl ad.

Now, I will give you the idea that this will in fact bring in a lot of dough for them, but given this organization's record, it won't be used for recovery, but to spend unwisely until even more people lose their jobs.

You can question if CBS looks like a pack of right wing assholes all you like, but given the fact that only the extreme right thinks that there is a liberal slant in everything else but FAUX, I would think you would be in the minority.
http://www.deadtreemedia.com Jeff @ Dead Tree Media

Oddly, I said nothing that can be construed as “Focus on the Family’s job is to employ people.” This is actually a pretty classic poor debate move, to pick a philosophical fight when there wasn’t one before. So the real question is, why are you asking?

Anyway, while you’re correct, their job is to deploy their particular brand of crazy, they need people to make that happen. Now, no matter if you’re making cars or wacky statements about the gays, you still need people to go about your business. But somewhere along the line, FOTF lost sight of that and spent so much money going after a gay marriage issue in another state that they had to lay off a bunch of people. In any other company, this type of behavior would get you shit canned, but instead, the people running the show there were given an even larger donation to run a super bowl ad.

Now, I will give you the idea that this will in fact bring in a lot of dough for them, but given this organization’s record, it won’t be used for recovery, but to spend unwisely until even more people lose their jobs.

You can question if CBS looks like a pack of right wing assholes all you like, but given the fact that only the extreme right thinks that there is a liberal slant in everything else but FAUX, I would think you would be in the minority.

DTM Commentary: Chrysler, Focus On The Family, and the Superbowl

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