Activist group puts CBS on defense.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

With 1 billion worldwide viewers and advertising priced at $2.25 million for 30 seconds, the Super Bowl could hardly play in a bigger arena.

But the Internet-based advocacy group MoveOn.org wants to push the game onto the stage of a presidential election, claiming that CBS is showing political favoritism by rejecting the group's anti-Bush ad while accepting a Bush administration anti-drug commercial to run during Sunday's game.

"It seems to us that CBS simply defers to those it fears or from whom it wants favors - in this case, the Bush White House," MoveOn.org campaign director Eli Pariser says.

The network, in a statement about the controversy, says it has a long-standing policy against running ads promoting "viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance." The network claims that it regularly rejects ads about abortion, gun control and the federal deficit, preferring instead to handle those topics in news and talk show formats that permit a more balanced presentation of conflicting views.

MoveOn.org's ad, titled "Child's Pay," depicts children working as dishwashers, janitors and garbage collectors with the somber rhetorical question: "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?"

Last year, the administration's Super Bowl ad linked drug users to terrorist groups who sell drugs. This year's ad urges families to get help for others they know who are using drugs.

"We find it totally unfair that they are running ads from the White House Office of National Drug Policy but not ours," Pariser told The Los Angeles Times. "I don't understand why it's controversial to say we have a $1 trillion deficit but it's not controversial to blame America's potheads for terrorism."

MoveOn.org, which boasts a membership of more than 1.7 million online activists, is urging members to call local CBS affiliates and urge the network to open the public's airwaves.

Locally, about a dozen callers have complained to CBS affiliate KVAL in Eugene, General Sales Manager Greg Raschio said.

Pariser claims CBS rejected the anti-Bush ad because the network is lobbying for federal regulations allowing networks to own more local stations.

This year the network also rejected ads from Las Vegas and from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Because the Las Vegas ad insinuates gambling, it violates the network's contract with the football league, an NFL spokesman told The Los Angeles Times.

The PETA ad, in which two scantily clad women fail to distract a man eating meat, tries to make the point that meat causes impotence by clogging the arteries to all organs - not just the heart. The network rejected the ad out of concern about offending viewers, according to its rejection letter. PETA says the network policy "doesn't hold water" because the network plans to run three Super Bowl ads for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction.

Experts on broadcasting law and federal regulation say the network's rejection falls completely within its rights.

Under federal law, the only ads networks must accept are those from candidates for federal office, says Dominic Monahan, a Eugene lawyer who represents the Oregon Association of Broadcasters. Issue advocates usually try to target ads to specific markets, rather than take the nationwide network approach of MoveOn.org, he says.

Court rulings over the years have given broadcasters discretion in deciding what to air.

"CBS does have a constitutional right to not air the ads," says Tim Gleason, dean at the University of Oregon's school of journalism. "There are a number of free speech interests at play here. It's not just one person's voice that needs to be taken into account."

Although the network has historically banned so-called "advocacy" ads, the definition of advocacy is an ongoing debate, Gleason adds.

The bottom line is networks must maintain their value to advertisers, who have a right to advertise their products. To do that, networks must cater to their audience, says Jim Upshaw, a UO journalism professor with 22 years of broadcast journalism experience.

In an economy where networks worry about rapidly changing technology, growing competition for advertising dollars and government regulation, rejecting a controversial ad is a sound business decision.

"The notion of fairness and free speech look a little abstract when you're in the crosshairs," Upshaw says. "This is big money, high visibility, a national audience. You don't want one commercial there that is going to make half of the audience stand up and spit."

Upshaw and Gleason agree that MoveOn.org, is making the most out of the controversy.

"MoveOn is getting a fair amount of publicity out of not getting publicity," Gleason says.

SUPER SUPER BOWL ADS

The biggest sporting event of the year is also the premier showcase for creative advertising, and the most costly. Last year, advertisers paid $2.1 million for each 30-second commercial spot. This year, the price is $2.25 million. Here are a few samples of this year's ads.

Frito-Lay (top photo): Grandma and Grandpa have a knockdown, drag-out fight over chips. But the kids get them in the end.

Anheuser-Busch: A donkey gets its wish to become a member of Budweiser's famed Clydesdale team.

H&R Block: Willie Nelson, whose troubles with the IRS are legend, stars again in a humorous promotion of tax preparation services.

America Online (middle photo): A father and his two sons, all motorcycle enthusiasts, pitch AOL Highspeed. The family's motorcycle business is the basis of Discovery Channel reality show "American Chopper."

American Legacy Foundation: Its anti-smoking campaign explores what might happen if other manufacturers made products like tobacco. One example: An ice cream bar embedded with glass shards.

Subway Restaurants: The company pokes fun at its own ad campaign, with men dressed as cheerleaders after eating Subway sandwiches.

MasterCard: Another in the company's classic "priceless" series.

Staples (bottom photo): A greedy worker named Randy parcels out office supplies in exchange for bribes of doughnuts and pastries.

- AdAge.com

CAPTION(S):

MoveOn.org's anti-Bush commercial depicting children at work to pay off the deficit was rejected by the TV network.