The perils of promotion
The weekend paper reports that Famous Players won't renew the deal signed with one of its own executives for the pro same-sex marriage ads that ran in theatres. (The
background's here.) Why? The company is gay-positive in terms of leadership, of that there's no doubt.
Amity and good intentions undoubtedly played a role in the ad contract (which cost close to $15,000). Presume also a belief in the importance of speech, even ad-related speech. Or perhaps not: executives have not sold screen time to the other side, and they've announced they'll no longer run "issue-driven advertising" of any kind. Customer don't like "issues" mixed in with their entertainment, apparently. (Yes, moviegoers believe there's no moral to the story on the screen! All that's left of Aesop's ages old bones is rolling about in a long-lost grave.)
Famous Players has seen some audience numbers dip, certainly. May have even expected it in some theatres. Though I think most of their customers don't care one whit.
There are perils to free speech. Many of those who do care about gay marriage, care obsessively. The antis send out thousands upon thousands of protests and cajoleries. The pros respond with their own endless stream of e-mailed pleas and telephoned prayers. It's overwhelming.
You'd need to hire an extra boatload of staff to cope. I recently read an appeal to gay activists to slow down, that politicians are deluged with communications that they can't possibly cope with -- much of it from people who aren't even constituents. The political system's set up so that each member of Parliament represents a chunk of local people; of course pols need to keep the health of the whole in mind, but their own backyard is theirs to coddle, bully, and personify. (I admit, it's hard not to reply to bigotry which sweeps the country just because the one who said it is 1,000 clicks away.)
The Globe and Mail has the spokesperson for Famous Players saying that "the phone calls were starting to get abusive, so we thought it's not fair for our staff to have to go through that sort of thing.... We were starting to get e-mails that were threatening our staff." And philanthropist Salah Bachir, who bought the ads, says he's received death threats.
Shame. Who's shutting down free speech now?