Our post yesterday on PETA vs Lamar created quite a bit of interest and a number of responses from readers. Insider always appreciates the feedback. Here are some comments.
“Smart that they recognize the media form that spurs the most conversations, dumb because they would have to buy a lot of stock to make a difference. Also, maybe this puts PETA against Sierra Club?”
“I’m an OOH operator, and I have to weigh in on the side of PETA here. I don’t see anything “divisive” about expressing a viewpoint. Offensive political ads are run all the time, yet we continue to take their money. Lamar Advertising Company, run the ads.”
“They need me to help them with their copy and Billboards. I worked with them for a few years when I was with Clear Channel I placed copy all over the country. Not sure if buying stock is the right way to go but it shows that they really value being on Billboards.”
“I’ve concluded that PETA is much less interested in buying billboard space, than leveraging refusals to get free publicity in newspapers and other media. They’re a nasty propaganda machine. I recall four encounters we had with them. The first was a “Wicked Wendy” ad with gross cartoon images of the Wendy character wielding a bloody cleaver while chasing a chicken. I thought it was in poor taste, and the local Wendy’s franchisee was also one of our customers. The second was an anti-beef ad, which I judged to be inappropriate in my market where agriculture is a very important part of our economy. I did accept one which was an anti-fishing ad, which I thought was silly, but not gross and distasteful. Then my final encounter was when they wanted to run “Pro-life”/”Pro-choice” ads with images of baby chicks in the week after a local abortion doctor was murdered on a Sunday morning at his church. The local out of home companies refused it, but our local newspaper took the bait, and gave them several news stories, which didn’t cost PETA a dime, other than their staff time to generate press releases. Personally, I hope Lamar stands their ground against PETA.
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Why even worry with someone who doesn’t want their business, when they could get the coverage with the independent operators around the country. I have rented some signs to peta in the past and reached out to them about this after the article came out. I figured maybe they were looking now but it definitely was to get attention in the media. We are grateful to help any customers that can benefit from our assets. Here is what they said: Hi Grey,
Thanks so much for reaching out and for the gracious offer. We are holding off on most billboards right now, just because of everyone staying home and not seeing them. But when things pick back up, we will certainly reach out with anything!
If the big company won’t run them I think most independents will, so let’s just keep trying. We just try to keep them in the right locations so our other advertisers won’t get upset. We have a lot of customers that are in the animal agriculture business and we will support both sides of the agenda. This is the way all media should be, with personal beliefs aside.