Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO – An automaker on Wednesday said it would pull a 30-second Super Bowl commercial featuring a clergyman who lusts in his heart for a truck, after a group representing victims of clergy sex abuse registered its outrage.

In the ad, the clergyman discovers an unusual tithe in the collection plate: the keys to a new Lincoln Mark LT. The priest checks out the truck and finds it heavenly, but then is returned to earth when the owner arrives to say his little girl had put the keys on the plate by mistake. The commercial ends with the clergyman adjusting the church marquee to note that next week’s sermon will be on “lust.”

Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, sent a letter Wednesday to Ford Motor Company, urging the firm to withdraw the ad, contending it trivializes and exploits the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church.

“We are appalled at how insensitive this ad is,” SNAP President Barbara Blaine said in a statement. “It just rubs salt into an already very deep and still hurting wound for many of us.”

Several other groups – both religious and secular – joined SNAP in criticizing the commercial, which was supposed to be the Lincoln division’s first foray into the Super Bowl spotlight in more than a decade.

Midafternoon Wednesday, Ford was insisting it had no intention of yanking the ad, scheduled to air during the second quarter of the game. But two hours later, the ad was history.

“While we think it’s an unfortunate misunderstanding … what’s important to us as we launch the new Lincoln Mark LT is that the attention is on the vehicle and not the controversy,” said Sara Tatchio, spokeswoman for Lincoln Mercury in Detroit.

“I’m grateful that company responded so promptly and with compassion,” Blaine said. “This will save a lot of people a lot of pain.”

The main character was meant to be a generic clergy member, not a Catholic priest, said Tatchio, who called the ad “a lighthearted way to demonstrate the appeal of our new vehicle and highlight the affinity that people have to acquire material luxuries.”

Tatchio said she did not know if the company would substitute another commercial during Sunday’s broadcast – the most expensive showcase in television. This year Fox Network is asking $2.4 million for a 30-second spot, up from $2.25 million charged by CBS a year ago.

The about-face illustrates the fine line marketers must walk between grabbing viewers’ attention and offending them. Given the brouhaha following last year’s ads – which included flatulent horses, a Scotsman wearing nothing under his kilt and another man who mistakenly underwent a bikini wax – along with Janet Jackson’s half-time “wardrobe malfunction,” many were predicting a more cautious approach this year.

Some observers said they were surprised that Ford didn’t see the potential to offend in its ad.

“It seems almost naive on their part to run an ad like that in the context of what’s been going on in America in the last three years,” said Clarke Claywood, a professor of integrated marketing communication at Northwestern University.

“It’s got this tasteless use of someone in a collar stroking a truck,” added Claywood, who’s seen the ad. “Is that really necessary? It’s got residual effects to it. It’s all about the visual image.”

Other groups who joined SNAP in their displeasure were the Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful and StopFamilyViolence.org. Feminist groups were expected to join the protest Thursday, which may be one reason the company decided to pull the plug now.

But at least one religious organization said it was baffled by the idea that the ad was connected to the abuse scandal.

“To say that it trivializes and exploits the sex scandal is absurd,” said William Donahue of the Catholic League. “In short, it does no one any good to read into this silly ad malicious intent on the part of Ford/Lincoln.”

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(Tribune staff reporter Jim Kirk contributed to this report.)

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