As NORML has previously reported, representatives from the CBS Corporation and Neutron Media Screen Marketing recently rejected a paid advertisement from the NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization of Marijuana Laws (NORML), that was intended to appear on the CBS Super Screen billboard in New York City’s Times Square.
The fifteen-second ad (Watch it here.) asserts that taxing and regulating the adult use and sale of marijuana would raise ‘billions of dollars in national revenue. It was scheduled to appear on CBS’s 42nd Street digital billboard beginning on Monday, February 1, 2010, where it would have been viewed by 1.5 million people a day.
Earlier today NORML’s friends at the online advocacy website Change.org established an online petition targeting the CBS Corporation and demanding the network to reverse their decision.
You can sign the petition here.
Change.org intends to present the CBS brass with your petitions next week. It’s up to us to make sure that they get the message. (For those keeping track, this is the second time in six months that NORML has negotiated a paid contract with the network, only to have CBS abruptly and arbitrarily cancel the deal in the final hours.)
Major media corporations like CBS have no problem airing programming that allows them to profit off the public’s interest in marijuana and marijuana law reform, such as Showtime’s hit series Weeds and the CBSnews.com online series ‘Marijuana Nation.’ Yet these same corporate entities balk at airing media that calls on reforming America’s criminal marijuana policies – policies that have led directly to the arrest of over 20 million Americans since 1965.
Tell CBS that it’s time they, and not NORML, “change their morals.”
Signed. CBS is full of it on this one.
If the people at CBS have any morals they would support cannabis reform. This is the most racist law on the books. It is not applied equally to people. The majority of people spending time in jail for cannabis are minorities. The vast majority of people that consume cannabis are euro-american. Equal justice when it comes to cannabis does not apply. Shame on CBS and anyone that supports prohibition.
i thoought it was nbc that has the show marijuana nation
Signed. Now I’m heading for any SeeBS blog I can find.
I signed it Norml is the shit cbs Suks
Money for more prisons? they my’swell cuz theres gonna be alot of cannabis users in there, o an put some cable tv in there too were gonna be in there awhile
Signed. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
I’ve signed as well. I’d also like to make clear that unless they apologize in a big way for this slight, dare I say personal insult, CBS corporation will have lost my eyes, ears and dollars. Those of my family as well, we’ll have no more of that garbage in this house until the day the ad airs.
HEY,THAT’S SHOW BUSINESS
Oh, they’ll show a pro-forced-birth ad for Focus on the Family, but not this? Cowards, the lot of them. I never watched CBS, but now I never will, knowing what kind of company they are and what kind of social agenda they support.
This shit gets better an better i can see that WE the people r STANDING up for our RIGHT for SAFER recreation rather than alcohol where fights almost always happen and im fukin tired of that seen,the world’s in chao’s as it is, why US people fight eachother getting drunk as fuk pure stupidity our GOV. that is
Signed, and no more CBS in this house either.
Just a thought, NORML–how about not trying to enter any more contracts with CBS. Just an idea.
Signed it but we know they will just say that one of these “pot head organizations” just forged a bunch of signers in an effort to… blah blah blah. Whatever. lol
Signed, CBS just in case you didnt know (which by not displaying this ad I assume you dont) the economy is NOT thriving right now!! So Billions of dollars annually off a single plant would be a good thing.
After signing I wrote to them explaining what happens to companies that disrespect the cannabis reform movement. It’s appropriately called the Kellogg effect. I used what happened to Kellogg’s business after dropping their support for Micheal Phelps. If we all use our collective ability to boycott those that oppose this movement towards a better tomorrow we can make change happen. Take your business where it can do the most good and support groups like NORML.
i am sure fox network might contemplate the advert… Lord knows they have no morals whatsoever, LOL…
i am pretty sure more Americans watch Fox then SeeBS (thanks #4, lol) anyway…
Tensity, you obviously didn’t get the point. This isn’t about who they enter into a contract with, it’s about how CBS is acting.
#14 your definately right about that, supposabley the 3 million that asked the #1 question was a hacker…..WTF its pple that asked the question
Signed it. But CBS can’t change what they don’t have. They obviously wouldn’t know “morals” if they came up and bit them on the rear.
CBS airs shows that encurage illegal activity, and then refuses to air footage encuraging that activity to no longer be illegal. in my opinion, that means CBS is is profiting by the prohibition through funding by agencies like the DEA who are trying to once again increase their profit marjins.
Signed, and now no more CBS!
Now this is what I like to see! Finally Norml is beginning to address the issues that drive cannabis prohibition in the first place! Corporate and political corruption. Perhaps all it took was for the beast to rear it’s ugly head. Way to go NORML. You have taken the first step to exposing the global elite’s most powerful weapon- The media.
Renegotiate, tone it down, just show that 20 million people have been arrested since prohibition began. Leave it open for the people to make up their own minds. If it is A-political then you have removed the bias and the reason to reject. Show the medical point of view. People are smart enough to read between the lines, the goal is exposure, any way we can get the truth out. Politics should be a four letter word….
My 2 cents.
Signed 😉
CBS may think it’s too political, but the Supreme Court just said any political advertising was allowed, so I guess you could take this to court with a Supreme Court ruling backing you up. I can’t see how they would be able to stop you.
Ask CBS why they don’t abide by the rulings of the SCOTUS.
It’s all political and all about the money.
Here’s a fun website, http://wonkroom.thinkprogres…age-of-healthcare-20091.pdf
Nine out of ten insurance corporations recommend psychology, it’s moneyrific !!!
Oh yea, there’s one in the works right now to stop finance reform.
Have fun kids, keep an open mind!!!
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/frank-luntz-the-language-of-healthcare-20091.pdf
on top of this petition, i’d suggest others check out this one too: http://www.change.org/actions/view/legalize_marijuana
i noticed it’s the second most popular on the site… we should be able to send it to #1 though
@ #18 Brianna:
I very much get the point why NORML posted this blog, and I would say even more than pointing out CBS’s hypocrisy, their point was to get us to sign the petition.
I’d say the point of allowing comments on a blog is to invite discussion, preferably on-topic, or at least in corollary to it. To clarify, my previous comment (#13) would be fairly related to the topic, of not obvious.
This is the second, not first, time that CBS has broken a contract with NORML. As an analogy, if a lover cheated on me twice, they wouldn’t be invited back to my bed. If a cop arrests me for possession after telling me I’d just get a warning if I hand over the goods, you bet I wouldn’t agree to any searches or cooperate in any manner in the future. That’s my point.
Furthermore, it isn’t just, “CBS cancelled again, oh well, that sucks.” It takes time and money to make contact, hire lawyers, and hammer out a legal agreement. It takes more time and money to find another media outlet and try again, not to mention any temporal setbacks in trying to get a message out at an opportune moment (as in right now, when messages of legalization are particulary resonant).
Maybe NORML thought CBS deserved another chance after the first cancellation. If NORML enters another contract with CBS after this second incident (without some substantial financial remuneration cancellation clause), then they deserve any possible fuck-over CBS delivers to them.
I often wonder what it would be like to live in a free country.
Anybody who endorses “morality” for a drug prohibition policy based on racist lies, cannot cite the Bible for support because God Almighty hates liars.
Keep in mind that according to scripture, all of mankind’s problems began with a lie. The first sin was not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and bad, it was Satan’s lie.
PROVERBS 19: 9 The false witness will not be free from punishment, and he that launches forth mere lies will perish.
EZEKIEL 13:8-9 “Therefore, this is what the Lord Jehovah has said: “For the reason that you men have spoken untruth and you have envisioned a lie, therefore here I am against you” is the utterance of the Lord Jehovah. And my hand has come to be against the prophets that are visioning untruth and that are divining a lie. In the intimate group of my people they will not continue on, and in the register of the house of Israel they will not be written, and to the soil of Israel they will not come; and you people will have to know that I am the Lord Jehovah.”
JOHN 8:44 “You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.” Jesus Christ
If anybody drug crusader thinks they can find support in the Bible for promoting lies, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/ and have at it.
Before anybody wastes a lot of time, they should remember that Jesus was convicted and murdered because of perjury and false accusations.
The mere fact that the drug war is based on fictions is sufficient for God’s condemnation.
So where does CBS’s MORALITY come from?
signed.
Signed. I sure hope they do get to air it on that billboard in NYC. I work a few blocks from Times Square and I cant wait to see a pro canabis ad to air in the middle of Times Square.
Free The Weed. Free The People.
HEY CBS HERES MY MORAL TO THE STORY. BOYCOTT! CBS IS NOT WATCHED ON MY TVS. STILL LIVIN IN THE STONE AGE YOU OLD FUCKS. IS THERE ANY NETWORK THAT HAS THE BALLS TO AIR THE AD. ANYBODY? MONEY DOES GROW ON TREES. SO WHY IS IT NOT LEGAL BECAUSE THEY CANT CONTROL IT THATS WHY THINK OF THE MONEY A NETWORK COULD GET FOR MARIJUANA ADVERTISING FUCK BUDWIESER THESE CBS FUCKS WOULD HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY A CASTLE MADE OUT OF COCAINE AND VIAGRA
Sealed, and delivered… Legalize it!
high
I agreed 100%, this prohibition is definetly NOT the answer to the problem. I wanted to extend my congratulations to Uncle Sam, Drug Czar, all of those members of congress, and all of these involved in DEA that they have successfully enabled those drug cartels into super rich, and ruthless which claimed hundreds of thousand innocent people that got nothing to do with prohibitation. The orginal purpose of prohibitation was to reduce violence, murder, and other criminal activity, and the result after enacting actually mulitiplies the problems globally. We are now has most prisoners per capital in the world. Isn’t it obviously? Guess these politicans and CBS are just plain blind!
Isn’t it time to chant “Free the leaf”?
How else are we going to balance the budget. Wake up Washington if you weren’t so busy boozing it up you’d realize your alcohol is so much worse than marijuana it’s ridiculous. How many people drink and become violent? Not so with marijuana. Again I say wake up!!!
I was recently arrested for possesion, Feb. 13th. Now I face 12 long months of being marijuana deprived. Im mad as hell and plan to take a stand in any and every way possible. I will talk about legalization to anyone who will listen. I will contact officials monthly. I will move to California as soon as my probation is up. People we have to stand up for our rights, not just whine and hope. Time to take action. Oh yeah I also lost custody of my child temporarily until I complete a substance abuse mind fuck course. This is such bullshit it makes me sick. When I smoke I am calm. When Im sober I just walk around pissed off about things. When I drink alcohol, its time to fight. You do the math. Im ready to move to Canada or some shit at this point. POT HEADS STAND UP!