American Airlines Prepared to Pull Advertising from ABC

[NYCGirl]

http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003121056

DALLAS American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in the network's recently aired movie The Path to 9/11, according to a source. The carrier also said it is considering legal action against the network.

American officials declined comment on the possible withdrawal of ads, and ABC representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on any facet of the situation.

The airline spends $25 million annually on broadcast TV ads; it could not immediately determined how much is spent on ABC, but according to one source, "It's extensive."

Roger Frizzell, vice president, corporate communications and advertising, American, confirmed that the client is mulling its legal options.

[whistle]

1. Who took out put options on AA stock recently

[Sequoia]

2. Do it American Airlines!

My name is "SUE" how do you do!

[Tigress DEM]

24. Official Statement on their website!

http://www.aa.com/content/urls/aaResponds.jhtml?&anchorLocation=Homepage_Top


American Airlines Statement Regarding The Path To 9/11 On ABC-TV


September 11, 2006

FORT WORTH, Texas -- American Airlines today issued the following statement regarding the ABC-TV program The Path to 9/11:

"The Disney/ABC television program, The Path to 9/11, which began airing last night, is inaccurate and irresponsible in its portrayal of the airport check-in events that occurred on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

"A factual description of those events can be found in the official government edition of the 9/11 Commission Report and supporting documents.

"This misrepresentation of facts dishonors the memory of innocent American Airlines employees and all those who lost their lives as a result of the tragic events of 9/11."

[DWilliamsamh]

62. Jonny Cash was GREAT wasn't he?

[Sequoia]

67. Totally!!

[Rex]

3. Now we're talking! Screw lawsuits, they take forever.

Hear that, other ABC sponsors? I love it!

[JRob]

66. What's interesting is that (I hear) the series is commercial free

Perhaps they had too much resistance from potential sponsors and decided to broadcast without

[Subdivisions]

4. They advertise on Oprah which is carried by my local

ABC affiliate.

[NYCGirl]

6. Oprah is syndicated and shown on other networks in other markets. NT

[Subdivisions]

7. Yea, I wondered about that. Thanks for the clarification

[KharmaTrain]

13. Her Show Is Produced By An ABC-Owned Station

She's based out of WLS in Chicago...which Disney owns and she carries a lot of weight with the station. She gets a first run at 9am...hours before she's on in other markets and then is replayed at 11pm (bumping Jimmy Kimmel to Midnight). She's also on ABC O&O stations in other markets as well in a special deal with King World. IMHO, she could have said something and had an influence on some level here.

Kudos to American Airlines. I'll be using AA as my go-to airline now following this fiasco.

[ladym55]

47. Time to contact Oprah

Maybe we should all let her know that folks won't be watching her show anymore when she's on an ABC affiliate. hmmmm.

She is one powerful woman. The more people we get making ABC's miserable life truly miserable, the better off we'll be.

I dream of lots o' lawsuits keeping ABC's attorneys busy, busy, busy for many, many moons.

[Tigress DEM]

26. Well, the affiliate should know how people feel.

I'm told the local affiliates make more money on "news" than they do on this kind of thing where the money goes to the ABC the company, not the lowly affiliate.

[Botany]

5. Good start but they shoud SUE 'EM

Come on the damages down to AA rep.

[Disturbed]

10. The moment that trash aired would have been

the time I would have pulled any ads on ABC and cancelled any futudre dealings with ABC. Yeah, Law Suits like this would take 5 years at least.

[Botany]

12. Yes but lawyers have years to work on em too.

I want to know who funded that shit. A christian
outreach group in Hawaii? I don't think so ....
betya' that some of the money going to Iraq, Haliburton,
and buying propaganda ( the Lincoln Group ) made it's
way into the production cost of that piece of shit.

[chat_noir]

8. psychops

Someone (seriously?) suggested on another message board that people send emails to American Airlines telling it that they will never fly AA again because of its failing on 9/11, according to The Path to 9/11.

hehehehe


Customer relations: 1-800-433-7300 in the U.S.


edited to add 800 number

[corkhead]

21. hehehehehehe

:toast:

[lumberjack_jeff]

76. Right on. By whatever means necessary.

:toast:

[RamboLiberal]

9. Every Airline should do the same

Hope they band together. United especially should back American since two of their planes were hijacked as well.

[treestar]

11. Thing is, they still need to reach the masses, don't they?

So it could be bad for their own business.

[napi21]

16. I don't think so. ABC's ratings have been pretty bad for quite a while.

Do you know of ANYONE who only watches one chanel? i'm sure AA knows who their customers are, and they would not lose much if anything by switching to other networks.

Besides, if ABC looses just a handfull of advertisers the size of AA, they just won't be around anymore!

[napi21]

14. That's a terrific idea! ABC's ratings haven't been great for years,

soAA $$ would be better spent on other networks anyway. That's definately the way to handle this ABC problem.

I realize lots of you say SUE them, but you have to remember, big law suits cost LOTS OF $$! Truthfully, in the end, IF you win, many times you're lucky if you recover enough to cover the cost of all the attorney's you had to hire, and the cost of all the time spent by your own employees, and the disruption in their days. Most of the time, the suits go on for YEARS!

Pulling the ad $'s is an immediate impact on ABC and and immediate gratification for AA.

I say, GREAT IDEA! GO FOR IT!

[orleans]

45. someone needs to sue so we can see what comes out in the

discovery process. we need to know who the hell was behind this film, who put up the big bucks for it, and WHY.

discovery is what it's all about.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. No Democratic candidate should buy time on ABC either. n/t

[90-percent]

19. forgive my stupidity

but here in reality, wasn't it united airlines that all the hijackers took on 9/11?

just asking

-85% Jimmy

[Tigress DEM]

23. American Airlines is portrayed as having let one of the hijackers skate.

The inference of the scene is that if AA had just searched this man's bag and turned him in to the CIA to be renditioned to some torture camp 9/11 would not have happened.


#1 I don't know if anything like it really happened at American Airlines all. Other scenes are complete fiction.

#2 The show portrayed the Airline from the PAST as if it should have been following regulations that only came to pass AFTER 9/11.

[mark0rama]

27. Two of the hijacked 9/11 planes were United, two American. NT

[WolverineDG]

37. No

Atta & his accomplice started of on a US Airways flight from Portland, ME. The US Airways employee had a feeling something was wrong & did what he could, but at the time, there was nothing to prevent him from giving Atta & co their boarding passes for the flight to Boston. He still feels guilty about it today & said that the AA employee who had to give them their passes for the AA flight at Logan committed suicide. :cry:

But ABC doesn't give a shit about libeling private citizens, if it helps catapult the propaganda.

dg

[Karenina]

17. JUST. DO. IT.

[BuyingThyme]

18. May be it's time for fliers to

call AA and threaten to cancel flights if they continue to support for ABC. Pretend you don't even know they're considering doing the right thing; just nudge them in the right direction.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not much of a flier.

[bliss_eternal]

20. Guess I can fly with them now...

;) or at least once they pull their advertising.

[Tigress DEM]

22. Fly American!!!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

:applause: :applause:

[RB TexLa]

30. Hell no

http://www.setlovefree.com/

[orleans]

46. what does all that mean in your link? n/t

[RB TexLa]

49. About $200 to $300 a year in higher flight costs for North Texas

much of it going to American. Of course AMR and the city of Fort Worth would rather we pay the extra and continue to have to drive to Bum F*ck Grapevine to fly.

http://www.646industries.com/mt/beyond_s/archives/the_wright_amendment.html

http://www.fightwright.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Amendment

[Kingshakabobo]

25. I wonder if the negative light was put on AA for their support...

.....of the gay community??? IIRC, the fundies had their panties ia a wad a few years ago due to AA's support of the gay community and Circuit parties/AIDS fundraisers. I think AA ended up removing SOME support to these parties due the drug issues involved but I wouldn't put it past the christofascists to hold a grudge.

[PDittie]

28. It is imperative that

Disney feel financial pain as a result of their decision to air PT911. It's the only thing a corporation understands.

[symbolman]

29. We need to tell every airline that if they fly people to

DisneyLand or World that we will NOT use their services.

The Mouse is now synoymous with HATE and LIES.

And thanks those how DO something about it like AA :)

[RB TexLa]

32. Don't all airlines that serve the west coast have flights to LA

and all that fly to the southeast have flights to Orlando?

[IronLionZion]

71. The airlines fly directly into the theme parks,

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, etc. are the pilots. And there is nothing in LA or Orlando other than Disney theme parks. Nothing else there at all.

:sarcasm:

Unfortunately some DU boycotting ideas take longer to say then to think up.

[symbolman]

74. I meant just ask them a simple questions

"Are we going to DisneyLand/World today?" Big Grin..

"Why YES we are, and so excited about it, ain't we Timmy?"

"Sure thing Pop!"

"Well.. there's seems to be a lack of seating for anyone going to DisneyLand/World.. I'm so sorry.."

See? How hard is that? -- :)

No one would be so stupid as to ask that NO PLANES go into the area, I'm amazed that someone would think anyone stupid enough to mean that as other than a joke...

But I'm dead serious about the above exchange.. SCREW DIsney Flights.. Propaganda Terrorists, Cut them OFF, keep their passengers OFF the planes..

A DISNEY NO FLY LIST :)

[WolverineDG]

38. How's about just not offering Mouse House packages?

You can't expect airlines to stop flying to/from LA & Orlando. But you can ask that they suspend Disneyland/world vacation packages.

dg

[Bette Noir]

54. Hey!

I'm as angry a liberal as any, but Disneyland is my hometown!

Besides that, I'm a stockholder, and I *did* write the corporate management about my disapproval of that piece if fiction they ran.

I'll boycott ABC, but not Disneyland.

[symbolman]

55. Then they are responsible

no?

[Bake]

69. Sorry, but the buck stops at Disney

The only way - THE ONLY WAY - you get a corporation's attention is to hit them at the bottom line. Disney could have stopped the whole fiasco dead in its tracks; they certainly knew about the controversy. DISNEY chose to do nothing and let PT911 run. It is every bit as responsible for it as its subsidiary ABC.

The Mouse gets not one more dime from me.

Bake

[Pretty_in_CodePink]

59. Please don't do that. Some of us have to get out of Orlando! n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

65. There's a wee little problem with that.

Disney World does not have it's own airport. People going to Disney World fly into Orlando International. As do business travelers, people visiting family, and vacationers who have no intention of going to Disney World. This is one of the airports I regularly use and just last week flew back and forth between Boston and Orlando. Flying into Orlando was returning home for me. Am I to boycott JetBlue just because they happen to have Orlando gates? Am I to forego air travel because I use the airport that others use to access Disney World?

Sorry, but that makes no sense.

[huskerlaw]

68. No more flights into

LAX or Orlando? Right. That'll happen.

It's not like Disneyland/World have their own airports.

[ScreamingMeemie]

78. So.... I should never visit my brothers in LA again???

Ummmm... I think this needs to be thunk on a little. All airlines fly to LAX from DTW. Sorry...

[rosesaylavee]

31. American Airlines will have my business n/t

[cascadiance]

33. Go man go! Sue that "anti-American" company Disney!

[NYCGirl]

34. Kick

[C_U_L8R]

35. they should pull their ads immediately

no self-respecting brand should associate
itself with a disgraced network of liars
and political stooges

[WolverineDG]

36. Hey! They listened to me!

That's exactly what I suggested they do in the email I sent them! :) I guess being an AAdvantage member for over 20 years does mean something. ;)

Still, I hope they sue the ever-loving bejabbers out of ABC/Disney for running that crap!

dg

[williesgirl]

39. They've got my business as of now with zero ads/promotions! n/t

[AtomicKitten]

40. stick it to 'em AA

$$$$ is the only thing that really hurts!!

[mdmc]

41. give em hell nyc girl

:kick:r

[El Supremo]

42. SURE, BUT WHAT IS THEIR UNION GOING TO DO????

I would think that this ticket agent was a union member. I don't trust AA beyond their last quarterly report. But this is a personal defamation issue.

[ladywnch]

43. just sent AA an email praising their actions

Let them know that Americans support their actions and encourage them to follow through with them, both with the advertising and the legal actions.

[tenshi816]

58. I just did too,

encouraging the same things. I also pointed out that for every person who writes in support, there are plenty more who feel the same way but don't write.

[civildisoBDence]

44. After watching the whole damn thing,

I see why the film and recording industries are so damn liberal, and why so many who previewed the Pathology to 9/11 trashed it.

Shallow, narrow-minded, bigoted neocon fundies just don't have the creativity or intellect or integrity to do the job.

Newsprism

[AntiFascist]

48. I'm fed up with United...

I had a United flight to Las Vegas that got way delayed because Bush decided to fly into a civilian airport for some sort of political fundraiser, and the return flight back was even worse. American Airlines has my business now.

[huskerlaw]

70. How is that United's fault?

United didn't have any control over Bush's flight plan. I'm sure all of the flights into and out of that airport were delayed, including American. :shrug:

[AntiFascist]

75. The delayed arrival flight put is in a bad mood....

particularly when the cab driver told us that it was highly unusual for the President not to use the military airport, as if he wanted to impose his presence at this major media tradeshow.

The main problem with United occured on the return flight, where the flight was again delayed, we missed a connecting flight even though we were barely on time but the workers at the gate loaded the plane and left early, even after someone had called ahead for us. United staff at LAX was incredibly unhelpful, we ended up having to rent a car the rest of the way.

[kestrel91316]

50. Gosh, why does American Airlines hate America?????

[vanboggie]

51. Who were the other advertisers?

Anybody have a list? I'd like to write them all.

[Love Bug]

63. There were no advertisers. ABC aired it ad-free.

From what I've read, ABC couldn't find anyone to sponsor it. I don't know if that's true or not, but if so, that should have raised some "red flags" at ABC corporate.

I really want to know who financed PT911. Another DUer suggested that since a religious group was involved, that Faith-Based Initiative funds could have been funneled to them for the express purpose of financing this propaganda.

[vanboggie]

81. Interesting, I didn't realize that

If it was the RW Fundies, they need to find a new religion that doesn't condone lies and cheating.

[onehandle]

52. Like I said, If anybody could or would actually sue, it's them. nt

[mnhtnbb]

53. Ooh, I love it.

[Erika]

56. Good Let American Airlines show the lack of facts

and make ABC pay for thier lies.

[DarkTirade]

57. Heh. No standing up against the lies and the ways they hurt the american

public... but when they hurt the bottom line. Weehoo, let's sue 'em.

[redqueen]

64. Most corporations are psychotic. This is not news.

http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=795975106535&itm=1

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780743247467&itm=7

[DarkTirade]

79. I wouldn't necessarily say psychotic...

just sociopathic. :)

[Vidar]

60. Good for them.

[jarnocan]

61. Makes me proud that I donated my AA miles

to their Katrina fund, and proud to fly American again.

[Nikki Stone 1]

72. GREAT!

:kick:

[ContraBass Black]

73. "Prepared to pull"?

Why not, "immediately pulling?"

[ShortnFiery]

77. Good for American Airlines! ABC is dead to me! eom

[itsrobert]

80. AA responds to me

Dear "itsrobert":

Thank you for your email.
The Disney/ABC television program, The Path to 9/11, which began airing
Sunday,
September 10, is inaccurate and irresponsible in its portrayal of the
airport check-in
events that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001.
A factual description of those events can be found in the official
government edition
of the 9/11 Commission Report and supporting documents.

[iamjoy]

82. To Quote The Movie "Network"

"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature and you will ATONE!"

Although, to be fair, the airlines successfully lobbied against regulations many DEMOCRATS wanted to impose before 9-11. More intensive screening? Cross checking FBI Wanted lists with passenger lists? Oh, it will be too expensive. Oh, it will inconvenience our passangers. Waa Waa.

But were those scenes (the airline security debates) in ABCs little movie?