Culture of life goes Prime Time

It’s time for a commercial break on MTV and a bright yellow school bus suddenly flashes across the screen. A group of youngsters hurtle off the bus while a voice in the background says: “If you were born after 1973, about 30 percent of your friends, neighbors, and relatives are missing.”

The next scene shows a group of high school athletes taking off down a running track. “Since the Supreme Court approved legal abortions 30 years ago,” the voice continues, “nearly one of every three babies were aborted.” Two of the athletes vanish from the screen.

“That means 43 million U.S. children, teens, and young adults are missing,” the voice continues.

A young groom stands on the altar while the figure of his beautiful bride turns pale and ghostly, then disappears.

The message is plain but powerful, and is just one example of the kind of savvy, pro-life advertising that may soon be seen by Philadelphia teens — thanks to one of their own.

Jason Buck, 21, of West Chester, has teamed up with Atlanta-based VirtueMedia, the same company that produced national ad programs for the Silent No More campaign, CareNet, and Heartbeat International.

Buck’s goal is to raise $50,000 — which is enough money to air ads in the Philadelphia market on popular teen networks such as MTV, BET, and Fox — for two months in the summer of 2006 and one month in January 2007.

“We want to use the same medium that has been spreading the message of the culture of death in our society,” Buck said. “This advertising will bring the pro-life message to the people who need to hear it the most — the 15 to 24 age group.”

Buck, who is currently studying marketing and computer information science at Franciscan University at Steubenville, recently received IRS approval for a 501(c)3 company that he started in high school. He was praying for direction in what he should do with his new company, named Culture of Life, Inc., when someone mentioned the VirtueMedia television commercials that have brought the pro-life message to young people in so many U.S. cities.

Simple. Gather together a group of local, pro-life organizations and individuals from Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware.

“By joining forces, we can leverage our resources,” Buck said. “These are commercials that have already been created. I was floored when I saw them. They’re very high quality. And they’ve been tested in other markets. The results were phenomenal.”

According to Tom Peterson, president of VirtueMedia, a $20,000, crisis pregnancy ad campaign that ran in Atlanta in January 2006 generated 2,646 phone calls from girls needing help. That amounts to an investment of $7.55 per woman.

“We tested the Silent No More campaign in Phoenix, Arizona — the fifth largest city in the United States — and garnered 3,500 inquiries in the first month,” Peterson said. “When we ran it in Detroit this past October, there was an increase of 5,043 web hits for post-abortive healing information.”

Even in some of the nation’s largest cities, ad campaigns costing as little as $15,000 and running on youth-oriented stations like MTV, BET, Fox and UPN, have had excellent results, he said.

“In 2004, we aired a national abstinence campaign test on MTV and BET and got 24,000 Web hits in the first week alone. Those are teenagers inquiring about abstinence on MTV and BET— it’s mind boggling,” said Peterson, a former advertising executive who started VirtueMedia after a conversion experience during a Catholic men’s retreat.

Timing is everything, however. “In some markets, the outreach is most effective during the summer months, when there are a lot of kids hanging around watching TV, and in January, the month after Christmas break,” Peterson said. “These are also the months when crisis pregnancies are the highest.”

That is the targeted time for the ads to show in Philadelphia — a market that has already been tested by VirtueMedia. A limited ad campaign ran in this market in 2004 and generated 480 responses from girls seeking help with a pregnancy.

Although VirtueMedia is the producer and media-buying agency, being able to partner with people in the local community is vital to the overall success of an endeavor, Peterson said. Local ads are carefully tagged with a crisis pregnancy hotline number, or whatever pro-life educational organization can best help callers.

“We love collaboration among pro-life groups and Christian people,” Peterson said. “It builds consensus and collaboration, and when people do this, we believe God’s grace falls upon those projects.”

Matt Pinto, president of the West Chester-based Ascension Press, said he has already signed on. “I was familiar with this type of thing being done in the past very successfully,” he said. “The idea of it getting it done on a local level was very appealing to me.”

VirtueMedia commercials are the kind of ads that can capture an audience’s attention, he said: “Any message that ties truth together with the human story, with emotion, people will respond to it. We are hard-wired as humans for story, and these commercials are mini-stories that not only appeal to our hearts’ deepest longings but also to our reason. I think they’re going to be very effective.”

Buck is trying to raise as much money as he can to run the first ad campaign this summer. “The best thing about this is we’re matching the message with the people,” he said. “If we all work together, and pool our resources, we’ll be able to buy more spots — which will get us better prices — and we’ll be able to work as a team in the pro-life movement.”

Buck will hold a meeting to discuss the project at 10 a.m. March 4, in the cafeteria of St. Agnes Church in West Chester. He is also available during the week of March 11-19 to speak at parishes and to groups such as the Knights of Columbus and prayer groups. For more information, contact Buck at (610) 624-3721, or by e-mail at jason@cultureoflife.us or visit www.virtuemedia.org.

Here is a link to the advertising mentioned:

Vanished

The marrying couple are my daughter and son-in-law.

that image lays me low.

I watched the ad. It's fabulous. It is going to infuriate the culture of death. I cannot believe MTV is going to run it. Godspeed.

I'd like to see more culture of life media -- and not just in opposition to abortion. A similar theme about the effects of cheating in business; of divorce; of abuse of power...etc.

It's a rich topic for mining, godlessness.

Virtue Media also has advertising addressing the Culture of Life in a more general way, as well as fatherhood.

Buck is trying to raise as much money as he can to run the first ad campaign this summer.

We're into August. Any idea how he did?

6 posted on 08/10/2006 3:14:21 PM PDT by siunevada (If we learn nothing from history, what's the point of having one? - Peggy Hill)

I've heard a similiar commercial on the radio, but this one was for AIDS, how one out of six people is touched by it.
The ad sounds effective, but I wonder if people will confuse the two ideas.
Funny, the methods that prevent AIDS are also the ones that prevent babies.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.