Moving to keep up its visibility in Washington, the Advertising Council salutes some broadcast and cable companies for public service. The organization also honored the late Jack Valenti, who developed the parental ratings system used by the TV and movie industries.
“Jack was like a true Texas war hero, who died with his boots on,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said at the council’s annual Washington breakfast. He and the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, presented the posthumous award.
Before his death in April, Mr. Valenti had spearheaded the “TV boss” ad campaign to educate consumers that the V-chip gives them the technology to block unwanted content. Mr. Inouye said the campaign was an example of Mr.Valenti always pushing for the next project, and not being satisfied with having been an aide to President Lyndon Johnson and longtime head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Like other Ad Council campaigns, the TV boss campaign involved cooperation among media companies, advertising agencies and groups to create and air public service messages.
Media companies and ad groups tout the Ad Council’s efforts as demonstrating the industry’s commitment to meeting public service and social responsibilities; they sometimes cite the voluntary effort as a better alternative to government mandates to carry messages about various social concerns.
The Washington breakfast highlighted the extent and success of the messages the industry is voluntarily running.
The Ad Council honored Tribune Broadcasting, Fox Broadcasting Co., Time Warner Cable, Entercom Communications and Discovery Communications, as well as Microsoft MSN on the Web, for being leaders in contributing time and space for PSAs.
(Editor: Horowitz)