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.

[dead]

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

It’s nice to see that your insane nonsensical ramblings make you laugh.

Nobody else on the planet has any idea what the hell you are talking about.

Are you high?

[Protagoras]

She has been an important voice for us during the Clinton Impeachment...before FOXNEWS was there to counter the media BS.

Lifetime pardons for future liberalism are available to all who opposed Clinton.

[Fiddlstix]

"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."

---

This is SICK
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."

[Protagoras]

I asked the twit what his purpose was in making the statement, but he didn't answer. I guess he is too busy flame baiting on another thread.

[Fresh Wind]

I can't imagine Arianna Huffington-Puffington picked the name "George" at random.

[dead]

I hope you don't really think anyone is timid enough to wet their pants because of the Red white and blue.

I guess you didn’t see the Iraqis surrenduring to American journalist pools.

[grasshopper2]

The most effective way to end Islamic terrorism is to take away their funding oxygen.

There i fixed it.

Very amusing. But since we can't suffocate all the bad guys over there (without suffocating many of our own) we need to do our best to stop buying the product that funds their terrorism. And an easy way to do that is to drive less and to drive efficiently. That's really not too much of a sacrifice.

American soldiers should not have to die overseas in a military action when there is such an easy economic solution.

And a side benefit is better health for all Americans. (I put that in to annoy you)

[LTCJ]

I hope you don't really think anyone is timid enough to wet their pants because of the Red white and blue.
Not at all. But I propose that it is about time all that changed. Significantly.

The other millions are extremists and hate anything that is not Islam.
True

there is no way to control what the psychos do with the money that either trickes down or is secretly funneled.
False. False. False. Perhaps you meant to say that here is no way to control what the psychos do if we continue business as usual.

Fess up. You work for the State Department, don't you?

[Luna]

Uh...don't we who have cars use gas for those cars? Did I miss something somewhere? While my car doesn't use as much gas as an SUV, I still do a lot of driving around. Does that mean I'm contributing to terrorists' coffers by putting gas in my car and driving it?

This anit-SUV crap is starting to really annoy me. I plan on buying an SUV the next time I buy a vehicle. The more these idiots spew their SUV-hate speech, I hope it encourages more Americans to buy SUVs.

[Protagoras]

But since we can't suffocate all the bad guys over there (without suffocating many of our own) we need to do our best to stop buying the product that funds their terrorism.

The whole theory of funding is flawed and anything that follows is therefore flawed. Not to mention that you are essentially saying that we shouldn't have police to defend our rights because some of them might get hurt doing so.

And an easy way to do that is to drive less and to drive efficiently.

This is nonsense. Even if you were correct, and you aren't, the answer would be drill more of our own oil. The world is awash with oil.

That's really not too much of a sacrifice.

You give up your rights, they win. That's too much of a sacrifice.

American soldiers should not have to die overseas in a military action when there is such an easy economic solution.

There isn't. It is a dream, wishful thinking, and dangerous. They attacked us, we stop them or die. It's as simple as that.

And a side benefit is better health for all Americans. (I put that in to annoy you)

It worked.

You talk a lot like a "feely good" liberal for someone on this site.

[oyez]

The painsttream media has been drawing more shadow as the public are getting their news from other sources. One way for them to draw more business is to balkanize the country. Everyone will now want to turn on to watch or buy their papers again. They want us to react. We should hang up a "NOT INTRESTED" sign.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

"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."

"This is George. This is George's SUV. This is George's place of work, to which he commutes by SUV. This is George's paycheck, which he makes by commuting to work in his SUV. These are George's taxes, used in part to fund our national defense, which he pays from the paycheck that he gets by going to work in his SUV."

[dead]

The search for alternative energy sources in ongoing, but none are economically viable yet.

Besides, we don't need alternative fuels yet, we have plenty of oil in the United States, we're just not allowed to get it yet because of political pressure from the same idiots who are telling us what cars to drive. The same can easily be said about our dearth of nuclear power plants.

Oil is not the be all and end all to our energy needs in the coming decades, but it is right now. And when those alternative sources come into their own, it will be because of the market, not because of the government.

[Just mythoughts]

C-SPAM reported today that the presidential candidate Howard Dean from the pinko state of Vermont was taking off in his Explorer.

[dead]

From here:

Arianna Huffington is was a nationally syndicated columnist. She'll be at The Laff Shack in Denver on Jan. 30, Mr. Ha's in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, and The Comedy Pit in Tampa on Feb. 3.

[biblewonk]

You are a freakin DU plant obviously.

yer momma.

[dirtboy]

The two 30-second commercials are the brainchild of the author and columnist Arianna Huffington.

More like the brainfart from the brainless Arianna...

[mhking]

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

At that point, I'll throw 'er into 4WD and floor it in their general direction...

[Old Professer]

I'm not sure which commercial he is pinging: the one condemning SUV's or the Hummer commercial referred to above.