I’ve recently shared my minor obsession with the still fairly new MTV-owned gay cable channel Logo. Though, to be fair to myself, I have voiced my numerous reservations about a gay channel, a channel called Logo, and even TV in general. Still, when I heard the station would not air a commercial for the all-inclusive United Church of Christ, I was a bit disappointed. And yet, though I’m sure it is only clever PR speak, Logo’s response, if infallibly wimpy, does have a point.
When pressed by the church for an official reason, MTV Networks responded, “Our guidelines state we will not accept religious advertisements that may be deemed as disparaging to another religion.” “I guess the idea of gay TV doesn’t really mean it’s your community’s network,” Ron Buford, director of the UCC’s Stillspeaking Initiative, told United Church News. “It’s just something that’s targeted at you to sell product.”
And indeed, while Logo does give various opinions by way of those in their prgramming, I suppose advertising is a whole other matter. Does the station have any religious advertising at all? If not, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing to refuse. I have actually seen this commercial recently, and in the Portland market, so it is not totally squelched, and perhaps this extra little nudge of controversy even helps. Even if no thanks to MTV. Viacom I know you are not looking out for me but I will probably continue to catch a program or two on your channel, if only slightly more often than I give into the tempation of a fast food hamburger.
Sidenote: The Logo site seems to have a video clip from yesterday about networks who won’t air the ad. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get it to play. Interesting…
