NEW YORK
Brand Republic
Staff, Brand Republic 12:30 03-02-2005
NEW YORK - Ford has pulled an ad it was planning to run during the Super Bowl, which showed a clergyman being tempted by a Lincoln truck, after complaints from those who have been sexually abused.
People who had been sexually abused by the clergy objected to the spot because it featured a little girl, and a joke at the end where the priest was set to give a sermon on the topic of lust.
There is super sensitivity regarding every second of Sunday's broadcast, after last year's debacle when Janet Jackson exposed her breast, leading to some parents claiming that their children were damaged by the site of her heaving bosom.
In the spot, produced by WPP's Young & Rubicam New York, a Christian clergyman finds not just cash on the collection plate, but a set of car keys for a Lincoln Mark LT luxury pick-up truck.
Outside in the church's parking lot, he sees the new Lincoln and stands admiring his new drive as a parishioner turns up with his young daughter in tow.
The father explains that his daughter dropped the keys in the collection plate by accident.
The 30-second spot finishes the with minister putting the letters "LT" outside the church to spell out next week's sermon topic: "LUST."