NEW YORK  The United Methodist Church's plan to run a Thanksgiving season promotion on a 22-story electronic billboard over Times Square got powered down when the company that owns "The Big Picture" said it does not accept religious ads.
The planned promotion is part of an ambitious marketing move aimed at increasing overall awareness for the 8.3-million member denomination, according to The Journal News.
United Methodist Communications signed a $30,000 contract Sept. 23 with an advertising agency the represents media giant Reuters, which owns the electronic billboard. The TV ad was to run 10 times a day from Nov. 17 to 30. An estimated 1.5 million people a day would have seen the ad.
The agency, Outdoor Television Network Ltd. of Toronto, took the blame for the misunderstanding and offered to seek an alternative venue for the denomination's ads, the newspaper reported.
"A policy that arbitrarily shuts out religious organizations from speaking in the public marketplace is discriminatory," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, head of United Methodist Communications. "In my opinion, a policy such as this undermines free expression."
In 2001, the denomination began a four-year, $21 million media campaign. Ads have run on 17 national broadcast and cable networks, from ABC Family Channel to the Weather Channel, the newspaper reported.
Bishop Ernest Lyght of New Rochelle suggested Reuters rethink its advertising policy.
"The ultimate goal of these ads is to lift the level of hope for all people," Lyght said. "We don't suggest that we are the only denomination that can do that, but we do suggest that you are invited to explore what we offer. Folks are looking for hope as they deal with life. If that message were in Times Square, it would be seen by many, many people as they stroll back and forth."
