CLEARING THE AIR
CBS Blatantly Lied, Blamed MTA for Their Spinelessness
Photo: JayParkinsonMD
So yesterday we reported on Hello Health's thought bubbled subway ads that drew a lot of attention, literally, and how the MTA supposedly pulled them because they were encouraging graffiti. However, Jeremy Soffin, the transit agency's press secretary said that while "we don't like to see advertising that lends itself to vandalize the system," the MTA did not give the order in this case. "CBS made the call," explained Soffin. He was referring to CBS Outdoor, the exclusive media managing agency for the MTA's entire system. So we contacted Benjamin Palmer, the CEO of the creative group that designed the ads, managed the buy on behalf of Hello Health with CBS, and first told us of them being rejected. According to him, the ad contracting rep responsible for the buy, Simon Smith, specifically claimed it was the MTA's call to pull the ads and then informed the group they would need to submit new creative—since 'Hello' is locked into a six-month buy.
After reviewing some of the emails, it immediately became apparent that Smith had indeed written the Barbarian group and informed them of the MTA's alleged decision. When reached by phone, Smith was a little dodgy but eventually came around to admitting that it was his manager that made the final decision although he did try to argue how it's what the mass transit agency would have demanded anyway, adding "We operate at the mercy of the MTA." And although he had full knowledge that the ads would probably be rejected by their own standards—let alone the MTA's—he hastily put the buy through anyway so the ads would be up in time for Hello Health's launch party. The conversation quickly degraded when he was pressed on the emails he wrote blaming the MTA, when it was in fact CBS' call. Smith finally quipped, "I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be talking to you," and said that he'll be referring this matter to the PR department, adding "you sound like a blogger trying to make something out of nothing." Smart call Simon, it's best to leave the lying to your company's in-house professionals.
by ANIMAL on August 14, 2008
Comments (3)
Just stumbled across your article. It does not seem that you have done a lot of fact checking into this situation. Where is the substance to your story.
It appears more to me that "Hello" is using CBS Outdoor, and bloggers like yourself, to create a story, in the hopes that they receive more attention. After all, it would take a shady company to create an advertisement that would entice graffiti, thus profanity, thus material that many children would see.
And how did this become a story? How did you become aware of the appearance and removal of the ads. I would like to know how you are involved in this matter.
Posted by Gregg | August 15, 2008 1:52 PM
Gregg: It's not some big conspiracy. ANIMAL found the photos of the ads on flickr and reached out to the company and asked them to explain what happened. They did. Turns out, after talking to MTA, the CBS guy lied to the client, pulled the ads, and blamed the transit agency. Plus he demanded new creative. Why is that important? Because when a company is purchasing a six month buy and spending a ton of money they should know who exactly is calling the shots and so the should public. Also: anytime the words "graffiti" and the "subway" are paired together it's basically newsworthy. Cheers,
Bucky Turco
Posted by ANIMAL MNGMT | August 15, 2008 9:43 PM
Agreed ANIMAL, but do we know if CBS Outdoor told their client that this Creative was not in keeping with MTA's requirements? Do we know if CBS Outdoor asked "Hello" to amend their creative? Do we know if CBS Outdoor changed their collective mind and pulled the ad for fear of being fined or trouble being brought to them by the MTA.
"Hello's" intent appears to have been to stir the pot, as a fourth grader could foresee this add leading to graffiti.
I am not questioning your "journalism", I just want to know if the extent of your research went so far as to answer the above questions.
Posted by Gregg | August 21, 2008 11:51 AM