Music television channel MTV has launched a campaign for the release of detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- but viewers in Asia aren't likely see it.
MTV hopes the publicity blitz will raise the profile of Suu Kyi's struggle against Myanmar's ruling military junta to the level of Nelson Mandela's 1980s battle against apartheid, MTV Networks Europe said in a statement.
"MTV is all about providing a platform for the voice of young people, and we vehemently support everyone's right to freedom of expression, no matter who they are or where they live," MTV Europe president Brent Hansen said.
But MTV's Singapore-based Asian network won't be taking part, even though Myanmar, also known as Burma, is an Asian country.
There are no immediate plans to run the campaign on the network's eight Asian channels, MTV Asia said late Tuesday in a written response to questions.
The campaign uses an ad produced in Europe -- and intended for all of MTV's 42 channels worldwide -- said the statement from the channel's European headquarters.
MTV Asia's statement said it would review the ad next year, along with other European content, and consider it for future use.
But some expressed doubts.
"It is unlikely that we will run it. It is a good cause, but we have to be sensitive to markets here," an MTV Asia employee said on condition of anonymity.
Myanmar's junta has been widely criticized in the West for its human-rights abuses, but most Asian governments say this achieves little and is an interference in Myanmar's internal affairs.
In MTV's campaign, a 60-second ad shows a teenage girl in a bright bedroom surrounded by posters, clothes and her stereo. The room suddenly darkens, the posters curl away and the carpet fades into a stone floor.
The words "How would you feel if your home was a prison?" appear on-screen, followed by "Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest" and a photo of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The ad gives a Web site where viewers can send a message asking the UN to help free Suu Kyi.
Human-rights groups say they're disappointed by MTV's hesitation.
"Why would they suddenly become nervous about human rights?" said Debbie Stothard, regional coordinator for the Bangkok-based activist group ALTSEAN-Burma.
"It's not that dangerous," she said. "Their audience isn't Burmese military rulers or human-rights abusers."
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