Alexandria, VA – Citizens Against Religious
Bigotry (CARB) today announced victory in convincing advertisers not to sponsor
the anti-Christian “JC” comedy that Comedy Central announced was in
development.
Members of
the coalition wrote to more than 300 corporations that had sponsored Comedy
Central programming in the past. The letters explained the nature of the
program and stated how offensive the “JC” project would be, not only to the 83
percent of Americans who identify themselves as Christians, but also to many
non-Christians including those who signed the petition. Coalition members then
followed up with phone calls to the advertisers, speaking directly with
representatives from most of the corporations that received the original
letter.
Not
one single sponsor indicated their intention to buy advertising time on the
“JC” program if the program ever made it to Comedy Central’s air.Due to the
success, the outreach effort has been suspended effective the close of business
this past Friday, June 18th.
“After an intense period of writing and then calling
hundreds of sponsors, the results are clear. In fact the verdict is
unanimous: There is no advertiser support for anti-Christian bigotry such
as that embraced in Comedy Central’s ‘JC’ project. The sponsors
understand what the programming department at Comedy Central does not:
Religious bigotry is bad business,” said L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center and the founder of
CARB.
“With literally zero advertiser support for this program,
the only reason Comedy Central would put it on their broadcast schedule is in
an effort to offend Christianity and Christians. There is no valid
business reason for airing ‘JC.’
“In light of this demonstration of overwhelming success, the
Coalition’s advertiser outreach will stand down. In the event that any
advertiser changes its mind, that advertiser and its executives will be
publicly called to account for supporting anti-Christian bigotry,” concluded
Bozell.
Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council,
offered this comment:
“We are pleased by the magnitude of favorable responses from
the advertising community regarding the ‘JC’ project. Advertisers have
become more aware of the inseparable connection between their corporate brand
and the entertainment content they make possible by virtue of their sponsorship
dollars. This demonstrates an exciting trend, and with fruit like this we
look forward to increasing the PTC’s investment in its advertiser
accountability program.”
Citizens
Against Religious Bigotry (CARB) is a new coalition created in response to
“JC,” the animated television series in development by Viacom’s Comedy Central
that is being created as a situation comedy about God and his son, Jesus
Christ. More than 20 member organizations and individuals comprise the
coalition and include top Jewish, Christian and non-religious leaders such as
the Family Research Council, Michael Medved, Catholic League, American Alliance
of Jews and Christians, Parents Television Council and Media Research Center.
To date,
more than 117,000 people have signed the grassroots petition urging Viacom and
Comedy Central to cancel their plans to air “JC.”