United Church of Christ's "Ejector" television commercial, already rejected by the major broadcast networks, has now also been turned down by Spanish-language channels Telemundo and Univision. Although UCC will be able to show the ad on smaller Spanish-language outlets, the veto by the much larger duo effectively means the vast majority of American Latinos will not see the commercial. The rejection comes at a moment when Latinos are being stigmatized by the current debate over illegal immigration, said Peter Barbosa of First Congregational UCC in Oakland, Calif., in a statement. The ad, which shows a gay couple being ejected from a church followed by the message "God doesn't reject people. Neither do we," "could not have come at a more relevant time for the Latino community," Barbosa said. "The [immigration] laws that are being proposed are nothing more than added rejection, added negativity, added discrimination," he added. "And then we have a religious organization with a message of such inclusiveness, of such welcomeness, and these stations--with the control and the power they have--are choosing to block that message." The Spanish-language version of the 30-second ad was developed to address concerns raised by UCC's Hispanic Ministries Implementation Team that the church wasn't sufficiently reaching out to Latinos. It was rejected by NBC Universal, which owns Telemundo, because it was "political," the company said; Univision didn't offer a reason. (The Advocate)
UCC "Ejector" ad
also rejected by Spanish TV
