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The Lamar Advertising company out of Baton Rouge won't air ads from democrats they claim are "too negative" but calling atheists lunatics and suggesting they'll start a civil war is perfectly OK??

Billboard company rejects atheist ads and comes up with their own anti-atheist slogans[1]

Mr. Kevin P. Reilly, Jr.

Chairman & CEO

Lamar Advertising Co.

5551 Corporate Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Dear Mr. Reilly:

We are writing on behalf of the Democratic National Committee to demand that Lamar honor a contract its Huntington, West Virginia office entered with the DNC for placement of two billboard advertisements in Portsmouth, Ohio. These advertisements accurately referred to a statement made by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives attacking a respected Member of Congress and decorated war veteran. The advertisements were aimed at informing her constituents about this statement, and called on Rep. Schmidt to cease such attacks.

The DNC was told by your Huntington regional manager that Lamar is refusing to honor the contract because the advertisements are "too negative." In addition to refusing to honor the contract for the Portsmouth billboards, Lamar, through its Cincinnati office, refused to accept the same advertisement for placement on billboards in Cincinnati.

While Lamar's form contract reserves to the company the right to refuse to run a billboard advertisement, Lamar's conduct in this instance raises serious questions about whether the company is unlawfully or improperly using corporate resources to favor or benefit the Republican Party or Rep. Schmidt. Your regional manager was unable to cite any company policy providing any objective standards or criteria for rejecting political or advocacy advertising.

Rep. Schmidt's constituents are entitled to know what she is saying on the floor of the U.S. House and the DNC has a right to tell them. Lamar should either offer a credible reason for its efforts to censor the Democratic Party or else should live up to its contractual obligation and let the DNC put up its billboard and let the people of Rep. Schmidt's district hear the truth.

Please let us know immediately whether Lamar intends to honor its contract--and if not, why. Fairness and the public interest demand no less.

Sincerely,

Joseph Sandler, General Counsel, Democratic National Committee Amanda LaForge, Chief Counsel Democratic National Committee

Source: [2]

The following is a copy of a letter sent to the executives of Lamar Advertising (see previous post). I will update when I receive a reply. I would highly suggest that we let this company know that we will not support their advertisers as long as they support bigotry and intolerance against us.

Kevin Reilly Jr. Lamar Advertising Company P.O. Box 66338 Baton Rouge, La 70896 Ph: (225) 926-1000 Fx: (225) 926-1005 kreilly@lamar.com

Dear Lamar Executives,

I am an American and I am a non-theist. My wife and I travel in our self-owned business and depend upon billboards often in order to accommodate ourselves while traveling. Your recent actions and inconsistencies concerning community standards has, I am afraid, put us in a position in which we feel obligated to not support businesses that advertise on your billboards.

I am referring specifically to this billboard which you own which can be viewed here.

This billboard refers to atheists as 'God Haters', 'Anti-American', and 'Traitors' and makes a thinly veiled threat of violence termed as a 'Civil War'.

My question to you is as follows. How can you suggest that ads critical of a Congresswoman, ads promoting tolerance for homosexuals and ads that promote animal welfare are against community standards while running a billboard which makes a direct threat against a group based on their religious affiliation? Am I to understand your position as democrats, atheists, homosexuals and animal rights activists are not acceptable to your community standards, while hate-mongers such as Rev. E.F. Briggs are acceptable? I am sure that you are well aware of the billboards that I refer to in my question to you.

Obviously, your definition of 'community standards' is very different from the definition of most tolerant and decent Americans. I feel I have no choice but to let your advertisers know that I will not patronize their businesses because your company, Lamar Advertising, does not meet my community standards.

There are millions of Americans who are non-theists. There are millions who are homosexuals. Your actions seem to indicate that you consider these two groups as unacceptable to the communities in which you operate, or worse, you help to promote outright hatred towards them. Surely you cannot think that such an attitude on your part will not result in some reaction? I would hope that some rational thinking about your policies would prevail above what seems to be an ideological mindset concerning your business practices.

Sincerely,

Alan (the atheist) Rome, GA

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