Scores of major marketers are planning to shelve billions of dollars worth of advertising for periods ranging from a day to a week during the war with Iraq.
And some marketers, including Sheraton, did not even wait for the hostilities to begin, postponing the start of new campaigns for anywhere from two weeks to three months.
Exceptions may be made for commercials during big events like the Academy Awards, as advertisers ranging from American Express to Yahoo have said they plan to run their ads, assuming that the Oscars are televised.
When marketers do resume advertising, they and their agencies will be scrutinizing the content of the ads as perhaps never before to avoid inappropriate tone or imagery. The rationale for their caution, discussed gingerly if at all, goes beyond fears of being associated with coverage of the war as it affects US troops. They are also anxious about ads that would appear in coverage of possible terrorist attacks on American soil.
"It's unspoken but we know that's a possibility," a senior executive at a giant agency said.
MasterCard has asked media outlets to withhold all its advertising for one week after the outbreak of hostilities, said Elisa Romm, vice president for brand building in North America at MasterCard International in Purchase, NY
"We don't run our `Priceless' campaign in news coverage," she added, referring to the series of light-hearted television and print ads carrying that theme, "and the news would be all the time, so our media strategy would change."
The agency for MasterCard is McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising in New York, part of the McCann-Erickson World Group division of the Interpublic Group of Cos.
The American Express Co planned to suspend its advertising for 48 to 72 hours after the fighting broke out, said Desiree Fish, a spokeswoman in New York.
At Charles Schwab, "`Is it necessary and is it appropriate?' will extend to all our client communication, not only our advertising but also our direct mail and e-mail," Glen Mathison, a spokesman for Schwab in San Francisco, said.
Schwab has "standing requests to pull our ads for seven days" after the war broke out, Mathison said, "and then we would re-evaluate based on what's going on."
Oscars ads
But Schwab, MasterCard, American Express and Eastman Kodak are among the advertisers proceeding with their plans to run commercials during the Academy Awards coverage on ABC on Sunday. The companies said they had reviewed the content of their spots and deemed them appropriate if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC determine that the show ought to go on. The Schwab agency is GSD&M in Austin, Texas, part of the Omnicom Group, while Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in New York, part of the WPP Group, works for both American Express and Kodak.
Despite the aversion of most advertisers to running humorous ads during the first days of war, and the decision by Starwood Hotels and Resorts to delay the introduction of such a campaign for the Sheraton chain to April 21 from April 1, some companies said they were sticking with their light-hearted commercials.
Yahoo executives decided on Tuesday night that if the Oscars broadcast proceeds so too would its commercial introducing Yahoo Personals, the company's online personals-ad service, said Terry Semel, chief executive at the company in Sunnyvale, Calif.
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