Major cable television provider Comcast tried to block small retailer The Mood and its advertising agency from airing some sexy commercials, after buying out the cable company with whom The Mood signed a contract for airing the ads.
Comcast claims the ads were inappropriate for television, but The Mood suggests in a press release that Comcast is being somewhat hypocritical about the matter. ``Comcast carries Howard Stern and Jerry Springer, but rejects a sponsor that's tamer than their content,'' says David Gensler, executive creative director for The Mood's ad agency, Monsoon.
The ad campaign in question involved five 15-second spots featuring adults in "stressful or mundane situations" which could be relieved with a little sensuality, courtesy of The Mood, an upscale retailer of romantic aides such as candles, books, lingerie, toys and bed linens. The tagline was, "Wake up, America - there's sex to be had."
The Mood says the campaign was to promote the store and Web site (www.themood.com) for Valentine's Day season, which provides much of its revenues. Last December, The Mood and Monsoon cobbled together a deal with Radius Communications to run the TV spots between 3 p.m. and midnight on such cable channels as VH-1, E!, ESPN, and Comedy Central.
Radius, however, objected to copy in one of the five spots, and insisted on altering the airtimes, The Mood says, with the store "agreeing to be flexible" and pulling that spot, plus narrowing the time range to 9 p.m. plus midnight.
That's when the deal was signed, but on Jan. 17, The Mood says, Radius called Monsoon to say Comcast had bought Radius out and would not air The Mood spots. "Monsoon immediately called Comcast, who suggested Monsoon submit new creative, yet refused to specify what was inappropriate about the existing (spots)."
Monsoon reconstructed the spots and ultimately convinced Comcast to compromise, with Comcast agreeing to air two of the original five with re-recorded voice-overs and no tagline. The new campaign hit the air Jan. 24, but, "(un)fortunately, a week of valuable airtime was lost for good," The Mood says, "and the full impact of the advertising was severely compromised."
``Comcast only accepted the ads with a man and a woman,'' says Gensler. ``The other three, which feature two friends or use the word `butt,' Comcast wouldn't touch. To me, that's pure homophobia.''
