I heard from somebody a while back that the Society runs TV ads late at night sometimes on New York City television. Is there any truth to this? Just curious.
Jehovah's Witness TV commercials?
by drew sagan 6 Replies latest jw friends
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bonnzo
don't know about that, but how about the new nike/lebron james commercials? "i am a witness" does nike have the holy spirit behind them? or king james? wait, they did name a bible after him!
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Elsewhere
Yes, they did and still do show these "Public Service Announcements" on TV.
You can watch them here: http://www.jw-media.org/edu_videos/index.htm
Just look for the ones listed as a Public Service Announcement (Toward the bottom of the page).
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What-A-Coincidence
yes...These were run by J.R Brown and company (Office of Public Information) with approval by the Governing Body of course.
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silentWatcher
Yes. In the US, television stations have to donate a certain percentage of commercial air time to public-service announcements (PSAs) to keep their broadcast license. The donated time usually comes late at night or early in the morning, since it is given away for free. The television stations are free to pick whatever PSA they want to air. The most common (and famous) example of PSAs are the ones from the Ad Council ("Say NO to Drugs"; "This is Your Brain on Drugs"; "Only You can Prevent Forest Fires"). The stations usually have a rotation of PSAs that they play, and the content is non-controversial. The only stipulation is that the station cannot charge for the air time.
Religious groups can make PSAs as long as they are non-denominational. The Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints) are the most famous relgious PSAs, and usually have a message like "Stealing is bad" or "Murder is a no-no", and might quote a scripture. The Witnesses made some PSAs in the late 90's / early 00's, which were similar to the Mormon ones. I actually saw the JW commericals a few times. What tipped me off was the scripture was from the NWT and the "This message provided by the Jehovah's Witnesses".
Since the selection of PSAs is totally up to the station management, if the station manager was "friendly" to the Witnesses, Witness PSAs would make the rotation. I do know that the station management at WTVH-5 in Syracuse, NY has an active Witness in its management during the late 90's / early 00's. (Meant the guy through a family friend, so I know the details about the PSAs first hand...). Likely where the commericals got aired, a Witness knew someone at the station who made the decision on the PSAs to air. For example, I only saw the commercials on that ONE station.
bottom line: It cost the WT next to nothing, and was free air time.
sorry for the length of the post
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silentWatcher
thanks Elsewhere! I remember seeing the one about Families.
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drew sagan
I never have seen those before, thanks elsewhere. Did anybody notice the one where the little boy is drawing pictures of buildings on fire and people screaming? I wonder where that kid saw such pictures of horror before? It wouldn't be the WT magazine would it?