Don Wildmon

AFA/AFR founder

June 1995 – One of the things I have learned, after dealing with corporations for the past 18 years, is that they have personalities just as individuals do. In fact, they usually take on the personality of the persons in responsibility at the top levels.

Of the approximately 400 companies which advertise on prime-time network television, they can be broken down into three basic categories. About 10% of them really care about what they help sponsor and work hard to do a good job. About 80% make an effort to sponsor good programs, but if they sponsor trash sometimes, it is no big deal. Then there is the third group, the other 10%. They really don’t care what kind of program they help sponsor. They are concerned about one thing – the cost.

Unilever is one company that falls within the 10% that care about nothing except cost. They haven’t always been that way. A decade ago the company had a decent practice in choosing the programs they sponsor on TV. But then they began to change. We noticed that change. The company reached a new low when they began to sponsor NYPD Blue. They are the leading sponsor of that series which routinely airs softcore pornography, extreme profanity and violence. For about the past year we have repeatedly written Unilever concerning their sponsorship of programs, but to no avail.

We thought that when we called for a boycott, Unilever would get the message and begin to clean up their act. Any concerned advertiser would have done so. But Unilever isn’t concerned. They don’t care what kind of programs they sponsor. They care only about the money involved.

Instead of stopping their sponsorship of sleaze and filth, Unilever has decided to respond with an “in your face” approach. Instead of pulling their financial support for NYPD Blue, the company ran an unprecedented five ads on the May 2 episode.

To make sure their message got to people who had contacted them, they sponsored the CBS program Buffalo Girls which aired April 30-May 1. The program used God’s name in vain (G-- d---) four times – a first in the history of TV – making sure that their response was heard loud and clear by those of religious conviction.

Then they sponsored other programs  to demonstrate what they thought of consumers’ concerns: the CBS movie Lady Killer, ABC’s movie Poison Ivy, Fox’s movie Trespass.

Unilever has given you their response. Does this boycott deserve your full support? Without question. Since money is the only language Unilever understands, push the boycott with as much effort as you can muster. And be sure to let them know you are doing so. Unilever’s customer service number is 1-800-598-1223. (Please be polite.)

Finally, a word to pastors. Within a few weeks your church will receive a card deck containing 100 “Boycott Unilever” cards. Please make sure they are distributed to your members along with a word of encouragement for them to participate in the boycott. We will be distributing approximately 17,000,000 of these cards.

Unilever may not care about our families and children, but we do. That is the message Unilever needs to hear – and feel in their pocketbook.