TV Ads Say S.U.V. Owners Support Terrorists

New York Times ^ | 1/07/03 | KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

[kattracks]

ASHINGTON, Jan. 7 — Ratcheting up the debate over sport utility vehicles, new television commercials suggest that people who buy the vehicles are supporting terrorists. The commercials are so provocative that some television stations are refusing to run them.

Patterned after the commercials that try to discourage drug use by suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go to terrorists, the new commercials say that money for gas needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists.

"This is George," a girl's voice says of an oblivious man at a gas station. "This is the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The screen then shows a map of the Middle East. "These are the countries where the executives bought the oil that made the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The picture switches to a scene of armed terrorists in a desert. "And these are the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills up his S.U.V."

A second commercial depicts a series of ordinary Americans saying things like: "I helped hijack an airplane"; "I gave money to a terrorist training camp in a foreign country"; "What if I need to go off-road?"

At the close, the screen is filled with the words: "What is your S.U.V. doing to our national security?"

The two 30-second commercials are the brainchild of the author and columnist Arianna Huffington. Her target audience, she said, is Detroit and Congress, especially the Republicans and Democrats who last year voted against a bill, sponsored by Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, that would have raised fuel-efficiency standards.

Spokesmen for the automakers dismissed the commercials.

Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said of Ms. Huffington, "Her opinion is out-voted every year by Americans who buy S.U.V.'s for their safety, comfort and versatility." He said that S.U.V.'s now account for 21 percent of the market.

In an interview, Senator Kerry distanced himself from the commercials. He said that rather than oppose S.U.V.'s outright, he believed they should be more efficient.

"I haven't seen these commercials," he said, "but anybody can drive as large an S.U.V. as they want, though it can be more efficient than it is today."

Ms. Huffington's group, which calls itself the Detroit Project, has bought almost $200,000 of air time for the commercials, to run from Sunday to Thursday. While the group may lose some viewers if stations refuse to run the advertisements, the message is attracting attention through news coverage.

The advertisements are to be broadcast on "Meet The Press," "Face the Nation" and "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

But some local affiliates say they will not run them. At the ABC affiliate in New York, Art Moore, director of programming, said, "There were a lot of statements being made that were not backed up, and they're talking about hot-button issues."

Ms. Huffington said she got the idea for the commercials while watching the antidrug commercials, sponsored by the Bush administration. In her syndicated column, she asked readers if they would be willing to pay for "a people's ad campaign to jolt our leaders into reality."

She said she received 5,000 e-mail messages and eventually raised $50,000 from the public. Bigger contributors included Steve Bing, the film producer; Larry David, the comedian and "Seinfeld" co-creator; and Norman Lear, the television producer.

[sheik yerbouty]

Ask why these Greenie idjits won't allow the sale of diesels in the SUVs? Outside North America, you can get Jeeps and such with fuel efficient diesels. It is the evirowackos themselves, who have prevented the sale of more fuel efficient SUVs which are available today. BTW, a number of small SUVs get very good mileage.

[goody2shooz]

Now she's an expert on the market niche for petroleum products.

Hello Arianna! Plastics and cosmetics are made from petroleum. Does this mean you will stop buying sandwich baggies and mascara? I think not.

Arianna is a stupid woman who married a homosexual for his money. 'Nuff said!

[supercat]

The fundamental problem with large-engine vehicles is that engines operate efficiently only when producing maximum power for their revolution rate. If the vehicle doesn't need as much power as the engine can produce, it's necessary to throttle down the engine; this reduces the output power substantially more than it reduces fuel consumption, thus reducing fuel efficiency.

I've read of some proposals to implement variable-displacement engines which should mitigate this factor. Do you think any of those have any promise?

[Ken H]

I knew this was coming after seeing last year's Superbowl commercials. Surprised it took almost a year to show up.

More laughs from the Looney Left.

[StockAyatollah]

She also seemed to be fond of that schmuck on that politically correct, Politically Incorrect show.

[Karsus]

"But some local affiliates say they will not run them. At the ABC affiliate in New York, Art Moore, director of programming, said, "There were a lot of statements being made that were not backed up, and they're talking about hot-button issues.""

How much do you want to bet these stations have no problem running the Marijuana == Terror ads?

[DoughtyOne]

I'm waiting for the time when SUV owners start getting picked off by whacked out enviro spacecadets.

[aynrandfreak]

Are we supposed to stop trading goods & services because terrorists use goods & services? If Arianna really wanted us to stop supporting terrorists, she'd be condemning eco-terrorists that destroy SUVs.

[A CA Guy]

I guess this could be so if the owners were Libertarians doing their illegal stash in the name of the Constitution of course! LOL

[sheik yerbouty]

I could see how living with her drove her former husband to be gay.

[Bullish]

Sheesh! And to think I used to think Arriana was fairly conservative. She got snatched by the pod people.

One things for sure. Her limosenes and her yacth are exempt from criticism.

[goldstategop]

Ariana Huffington's new commercials will actually end up boosting SUV sales. Detroit should be grateful she's helping to make America's most popular car even more popular. Stupid as stupid does liberals like Huffington end defeating their own goals.

[texasbluebell]

Bigger contributors included Steve Bing, the film producer;

Hey, Steve Bing, what kind of car do you drive? I'll bet it's a big Porsche or Ferrari or Lamborghini that uses as much (or more) gas as an SUV...How about your family? I doubt very much they're tooling around in little VWs. How about Liz Hurley, your ex girl friend and your little baby?

You morons. I'm so sick of the lot of you. Larry David, dry up. Lear, jump in the lake, or maybe just in the pool that goes with your 60,000 sq ft house. And for some reason I picture Arianna being driven around town in a big limo.

We'll decide what vehicles we want to drive--and we don't need any help from the Hollyweird limousine liberal set.

[aynrandfreak]

I hate Diane Feinstein, but I call it another "blessing" of the 94 election that those two weirdos weren't sent to the Senate that year.

[Cindy]

LINKS OF INTEREST:

An Interesting Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding an WJETTV.com news brief: "EARTH LIBERATION CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUV FIREBOMBING" (010303)

YAHOO! News (AP): "SUV's TORCHED IN PENNSYLVANIA LATEST ECO-TERRORISM CLAIMED BY RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "PITTSBURGH - In the latest in a string of vandalism carried out in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, members of the radical environmental group are claiming responsibility for a fire at a Pennsylvania auto dealership. A posting on the group's Web site said the "attack" targeted gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, in a fight "to remove the profit motive from the killing of the natural environment."") (010403)

FBI.gov - WANTED BY THE FBI: "MICHAEL JAMES SCARPITTI" also known as: "Matthew Hill, John Pierce, Ridge and Tre Arrow." (WANTED POSTER SNIPPET: "Scarpitti is a longtime environmental activist with an extensive history of involvement in anti-logging tree sits and other related protests. He is known to be affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which is a loosely organized movement whose stated objective is to stop the destruction of the natural environment and the exploitation of the earth's natural resources through whatever means are necessary. Law enforcement authorities consider the ELF to be a domestic terrorism group. REWARD The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Michael James Scarpitti.") (December 2002)

GOOGLE Search Term: "EARTH LIBERATION FRONT"

[rmlew]

Response 1: Stop aiding terrorists. Drill in Alaska!

Reponse 2: Are the Greens calling Arabs terrorists? That's racist!

[Cindy]

LINKS OF INTEREST:

DEA.gov: "PRESS RELEASES"

THE ANTIdrug.com: "DRUGS and TERROR"

U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE Online

U.S. TREASURY: "EXECUTIVE ORDER 13224 - BLOCKING PROPERTY AND PROHIBITING TRANSACTIONS WITH PERSONS WHO COMMIT, THREATEN TO COMMIT, OR SUPPORT TERRORISM "

[Nick Thimmesch]

m

[lavaroise]

Hmmm, my autonomy vs. the alleged fact that I buy terror oil... Nope, I buy Marathon gas that is not made of terror oil. Cant the greenies provide this alternative? No, lies about me and SUV owners as usual.