propaganda war
Philip Anschutz, who the BBC
described as having "a reputation as one of the hungriest of US corporate
vultures", is currently using his wealth and power to support a slick ad
campaign appearing on 10,000 billboards, in hundreds of movie theaters, and
on nearly a thousand TV stations across the country. The Foundation for a
Better Life (FBL)
[ original
post | first
follow-up | second
follow-up ]
The ad campaign features billboards
with words such as "Courage", "Unity", and "Compassion".
Illustrating each value is a photograph of a person, an catchy, explanatory
tagline, and the phrase, "Pass it on". The commercials,
similarly themed, "are being seen on average over 2 million times per day
on seven networks and over 900 TV stations... [and] are also being shown in
all United Artists, Regal and Edwards movie theaters totaling over 6,000 screens
across the country" according to FBL. The ~6,600 screens of those three
chains account for nearly 20% of the U.S. total. The campaign was put together
by Jay
Schulberg (who created the "Got Milk?" ads
While some of the individual ads
Philip Anschutz, until recently the 16th richest person in America, and still quite wealthy, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party and various GOP candidates in at least the last two Presidential election cycles. His oil and gas company, the Anschutz Exploration Corporation, had notoriously destructive intent against a sacred Native American site in Montana. His corporate empire includes a majority holding in Qwest Communications and ownership of several sports teams and arenas. Significantly, he also owns the United Artists, Regal and Edwards movie theater chains, where the FBL commercials are being shown. Whether or not FBL is paying for these slots is unknown. According to Outdoor Advertising Association of America, $10,000,000 worth of the cost of the billboard campaign is being donated by OAAA member companies. In other words, it is possible that this advertising blitz is costing FBL and Philip Anschutz very little money out-of-pocket.
Some of the billboards in the Portland area have been edited, clearly by those who disagree with their message. Several posts to the newswire have suggested further billboard liberation as a means of responding to the campaign. (portland indymedia does not endorse any particular political tactic other than the legal exercise of free speech.)
No other media outlet seems to have revealed the FBL-Anschutz connection yet.
Here at portland indymedia, the story was uncovered by several different individuals
who researched and posted their findings to the open
publishing newswire. This collaborative process showed that
Newswire posts: [ "Foundation for a Better Life?" | "Foundation for a better life: more" | "Foundation for a better life, even more" ]
Websites: [ Foundation for a Better Life | Billboard