Madison Avenue Against the War

Advertising, which has taken on many new social and political roles in recent years, is now being used to oppose the war in Indochina. In a precedent-setting move, 24 U.S. Senators have bought TV time to support a congressional amendment calling for a scheduled and complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Viet Nam by June 1971. Led by South Dakota Democrat George McGovern and Oregon Republican Mark Hatfield. they have arranged for a three-week campaign on local television stations in 43 cities. Their aim: to generate public pressure for passage of the amendment when it comes up for a vote later next month. Whatever the result, the notion of using commercials to sell political or social viewpoints could open a new outlet for advocates and a fresh source of income for television.

One ad shows a group of boys playing soldier in a field while an unseen announcer reminds viewers that many troops dying in Viet Nam were only twelve years old when the U.S. first became deeply involved in the war. If a more determined drive for peace is not made now, he warns, the children seen on the screen could some day be fighting a real war. Another commercial has an Idaho woman recounting the hardships brought on her family by war-stoked inflation. A series of print ads is also being mailed free to antiwar groups, which pay for their publication in local newspapers. A flag-draped coffin is depicted in one ad with the headline,

"IT'S TOO HEAVY FOR ONE MAN TO CARRY." The message: Congress must work more actively with the President to end the war.

The seven commercials and eleven print ads were created voluntarily by members of "Advertising People Against the War." The group, which was formed after President Nixon sent American troops into Cambodia, quickly offered its resources to the Senators. More than 100 admen joined the organization, including Agency Chiefs Carl Ally, William Bernbach, Laurence Dunst, George Lois and Richard Lord. Top talent worked nights and weekends to produce the ads. Agencies supplied all the materials free, down to the film itself. The $250,000 needed to broadcast the messages came from donations received by McGovern, Hatfield and other Senators after their appearance on NBC last May to seek support in ending the war. Since then the networks have repeatedly refused to sell the Senators additional time for similar programs, contending that their views were well covered in regular news programs. Rebuffed, the Senators turned to advertising on local stations.

"A great myth has been successfully fostered in this country," says Robert Colodzin, head of the advertising group. "It is that only some Eastern radicals and long-haired kids are against the war. We had to make opposition to the war respectable." Why did the admen, many of whom have long opposed the war, wait so long to act? Says Colodzin: "Cambodia made it necessary."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.