A pro-life commercial that has aired on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and features President Obama wasn’t seen during the Super Bowl after NBC rejected it, saying it involved political and issue advocacy.
Sponsored by CatholicVote.org, a project of the Fidelis Center, the ad begins showing an active unborn baby during an ultrasound. As music plays, words on the screen read: “This child’s future is a broken home … he will be abandoned by his father … his single mother will struggle to raise him … despite the hardships he will endure … this child will become the first African-American president.” The ad then shows a picture of Obama with the words, “Life … imagine the potential.”
The ad runs about 40 seconds online and has become a YouTube sensation with 1.4 million views. Web views, in fact, have increased dramatically since the Super Bowl controversy broke. The ad ran on BET the day Obama was inaugurated and can be viewed at CatholicVote.org.
“There is nothing objectionable in this positive, life-affirming advertisement,” Brian Burch, president of Fidelis, told LifeNews.com. “We show a beautiful ultrasound, something NBC’s parent company GE has done for years.”
Summing up the commercial, Burch said, “Our message is simple: Abortion is the enemy of hope.”
He expressed frustration that the pro-life ad was rejected while NBC implied that an ad from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would have been accepted.
“NBC claims it doesn’t allow advocacy ads, but that’s not true. They were willing to air an ad by PETA if they would simply tone down the sexual suggestiveness. Our ad is far less provocative and hardly controversial by comparison,” Burch said. “The purpose of our new ad is to spread a message of hope about the potential of every human life, including the life of Barack Obama.” (BP)
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