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Karl Gets All Political On Your Ass

Ok – it seems that every few months I write about something political or social on this blog (versus my normal ramblings about my boring day-to-day life). Today, I just had to write about this.


A religious group* has sent out a mass-email to people (presumably a 1,000,000 of them based on their name) requesting that they boycott and protest (call, email, snail mail, etc…) the makers of Tylenol (Johnson and Johnson) because of the following ad in the gay/lesbian magazine, The Advocate.



They even warned their members to be cautious when viewing the ad because the photo was so “offensive”.


Anyway, this group is encouraging people to call and complain because of “Johnson & Johnson’s committment to financially support homosexuality”.


I’m hoping people reading this blog will do the opposite: Please call and THANK Johnson and Johnson for supporting the community (although, to be honest, they’re more trying to make money off the gay community than support a cause…we are a capitalist society, afterall). But still, this ad is placed in a gay magazine for adult gay readers…it’s not found in Good Housekeeping or Hightlights. It’s also a lot less offensive that other ads I see in mainstream publications.


The number to call is: 1-800-962-5357, option 5


They seem quite happy, actually, to receive these calls. Please? For little ole’ me? And if you are so inclined, email your friends about it, too! Or post it on your blog! Or scream it from the roof tops.


OH! And they may even mail you some FREE samples for taking the time to contact them! It’s a win/win situation.


 


*My original draft had the name of this right-wing/conservative organization. But I removed it because I’ve realized that people find my blog by searching for unusual things, and my web-server couldn’t handle the hits/spam if they all decide to bombard me with comments (as I so clearly learned last week when I managed to inadvertantly shut down my blog for 4 days).  Besides, I don’t think their organization deserves anymore advertising. I did give you a bit of a hint regarding the name in the parenthesis above since they use that number as part of their name (which is scary that they could potentially have that many members contacting Johnson & Johnson…all the more reason I’d love you forever if you’d counter their efforts by calling Johnson & Johnson yourself!!)


 

20 Comments

  1. Comment by David on July 21, 2005 10:42 am

    Mission Complete Karl.
    I called this morning and thanked McNeil for posting the ad. They will send you coupons and recipes for Splenda….
    They were very nice.
    And Remember folks Tylenol PM is also one of the corporate sponsors for the BGMC.

  2. Comment by Brad on July 21, 2005 12:07 pm

    Well, I called and didn’t get any free samples, but the woman I spoke with was quite relieved to get a “complimentary” call and not a negative call. Clearly, the “other side” is calling and so a quick call is the least we can do.

  3. Comment by Ben on July 21, 2005 12:27 pm

    I’ve fought back, too.
    Ben

  4. Comment by D. Glenn Arthur Jr. on July 21, 2005 4:37 pm

    What’s ultimately silly about that bit of propoganda is that if they’re basing their complaint solely on this ad, the reasonable conclusion is not that the company is “financially supporting” homosexuality. By advertising a product in a gay magazine, the company can insted be said to be attempting to _profit_from_ homosexuals, not “financially support” them. Sheesh.

    I’ll make my in-favour-of-the-ad call later, when I’ve disconnected the modem.

  5. Comment by jeff on July 21, 2005 4:51 pm

    Count me in – keep up the good fight!

  6. Comment by jeff on July 21, 2005 4:54 pm

    I meant to add – if people don’t want to call, they can email Tylenol at: http://www.tylenol.com/vcrc/email/tyemailform.jhtml?id=email

  7. Comment by BigDaddyOttawa on July 21, 2005 9:24 pm

    And they came about this ad how, doing “research”, I suppose? So someone bought the magazine for some “research” and inadvertently increased the profits and circulation for this month’s issue. Bravo. Let’s hope (for the Advocate’s sake) that they all buy the magazine this month. Woot. Record sales for the Advocate for July. Maybe I’ll go buy it so I can get a copy of the ad.

  8. Comment by matt on July 21, 2005 11:46 pm

    Go get ’em!

  9. Comment by JC on July 22, 2005 10:48 am

    Consider it done!

  10. Comment by karyn on July 22, 2005 10:09 pm

    Ewe got it baby.

  11. Comment by karyn on July 22, 2005 10:10 pm

    (Now see, THAT might be offensive, if it were a man and a sheep in the bed. These people oughta have their heads examined.)

  12. Comment by Sharon on July 25, 2005 12:49 pm

    Thanks so much for putting the word out. I just called and thanked them. Very polite person on the other end.

  13. Comment by anna. on July 25, 2005 1:32 pm

    Damn, those advertising guys deserve big fat raises!!!

    Rock on Karl, great post, cool blog!

  14. Comment by Tammy on July 25, 2005 1:35 pm

    I called Tylenol and told them they should give that design team who made this ad… a HUGE RAISE! I think it’s the bomb!

    And to the relgious and hateful freaks annoying the rest of us.. Go get laid already and lighten up!

  15. Comment by KGreen007 on July 26, 2005 11:22 am

    Just called and the person on the other end was quite surprised to hear a positive comment. She stated “finally a positive comment” Come on lets call and let them know we thank them for their support.

  16. Comment by Rick Barnes on July 27, 2005 4:30 am

    Thanks for this. I will post this to my site as well!

  17. Comment by Ashton on May 5, 2006 8:12 am

    Ashton…

    Looks like your page was spammed…

  18. Comment by Anton on May 5, 2006 2:30 pm

    Anton…

    Looks like your page was spammed….

  19. Comment by John on May 7, 2006 1:09 pm

    John…

    Looks like your page was heavily hit by spammers…

  20. Comment by Avatars on May 11, 2006 7:16 am

    Avatars…

    Avatars, free avatars, anime avatars, msn avatars, yahoo avatars, animated avatars, neopet avatars, avatar…

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