Mar 24 2010
New Yorkers Shout Back About Those HSUS Ads
The 
"amNewYork" is a free daily newspaper published by the folks who bring you Newsday and the Cablevision digital TV service. Like similar "commuter rags" in other big cities, amNewYork caters to the subway crowd with light-hearted news, sports coverage, weather reports, and water-cooler gossip. It's the most widely-circulated daily newspaper in Manhattan.
This morning, hundreds of thousands of Big Apple readers are learning that it's okay to not like those Humane Society of the United States TV infomercial ads.
You know the commercials we're talking about: "For just 19 dollars a month..." Yep. Those ads. It turns out Fox in New York City actually yanked them off the air after viewers said "enough!":
“I can’t watch them, I feel sad when I see them,” said Manhattan resident Joy Kreveillant, 21. “I usually have to flip the channel.”
The ads provoked such strong emotion that Fox pulled them off the air in December after viewers complained. “The feedback we were getting was that they were depressing,” said Alexis Baker, a spokeswoman for the cable channel ...
The ads are tied to a membership drive, though [HSUS vice president Michael] Markarian would not say how much the campaign cost or if it’s boosted membership.
However, ad executives estimate that a 30 second segment on a local news channel such as NY1 would cost $200. And the group’s nonprofit tax filings for 2008, the latest year available, show that it spent $24 million on fund-raising efforts and reaped $87 million from contributions and grants.
We told amNewYork that when a nonprofit starts advertising on this scale, "it starts to look like a business and not a charity." We stand by that. And we're guessing the $19/month figure—why not $15 or $20?—was calculated to give HSUS just the right level of "yield" in return for what it spends.
We doubt HSUS pays $200 per spot, since they buy in bulk on a scale that Apple computer and Toyota would have trouble keeping up with. Their bank-card processing company probably takes three percent off the top of every donation. And HSUS had to invest money to shoot the ads, hire an agency to buy all the media, and pay a royalty for that weepy Sarah McLachlan song.
If they're lucky, they'll generate one new donor every time the ad runs. That's a year's worth of $19 monthly contributions, or $228.
They're probably just breaking even.
So maybe the point of all these ads isn't to make money after all, but to generate free PR exposure for the false premise that HSUS is primarily concerned with caring for dogs and cats (like a real Humane Society)? Could the new donors essentially be covering the cost for the misleading ads that hooked them, and nothing more?
That would make New Yorkers' negative reactions all the more interesting. HSUS may be sinking $5 or $6 million into a PR campaign that turns off as many people as it turns on.
If you've been living under a rock (or never watch Oprah) and you haven't seen these yet, here they are.
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Its good to know that people are finally speaking out about stuff like this!!! I hate those commercials, mainly because they appeal to emotions of people who are uneducated about how the HSUS really spends their money!! or should I say the donors money! We have policies when raising our cattle and horses, rules and regulations about how they are to be treated. If someone breaks those rules, why not just punish the sole person? They are wrong to go after industries. I believe in higher punishments for animal cruelty, but leave those who are producing a safe and healthy product the right way alone! Thanks humanewatch.org, for keeping us informed 
from a concerned 19 year old.
It’s about time a station pulls those adds. I have stopped watching the LOGO channel along with the Oprah and Ellen shows since it’s obvious they have been drinking too much of H$U$‘s cool aid.
I mostly watch Fox Cable and I was muting that ad when it came on too. We (you <G> David) need to educate those folks that haven’t yet comprehended what HSUS is all about because they haven’t listened much to those of us writing them! It breaks my HEART!! Even Glenn Beck seemed to think Skip Trimble was a “good guy” when he had him on back on April 8 last year just because he wanted bigger cruelty laws. What Skippy WANTS is to bury everyone WITH an animal because the act of ownership is “CRUELTY” but he’s not going to tell you that!
Wacky Wayne and his fellow travelers are busy consistently failing to learn an important lesson in media relations: When a lunatic fringe fanatic group like ACORN, the H$U$, PeTA, etc. crawls out from under its slimy rock, stops preaching to the choir, and tries to go mainstream, the media will tend to start shining flashlights under that slimy rock, just to see what’s there… And what’s there is inevitably really, really embarrassing…
It’s my sincere hope these greedy, self-righteous, Fascist wingnuts will be hoisted by their own petards in the media sooner rather than later.
HSUS’s main objective: “Always do as much harm as they possibly can to ALL responsible animal breeders and owners They would enjoy and are trying to put ALL animal breeders, and owners out of business—PERMANENTLY. All true friends of animals need to be protected from HSUS’s destructive efforts to destroy our “HUMAN SOCIETY”.
I am SO glad to read this! I have started a Facebook group to stop those horrid commercials, which turn people off to donating rather than encourage them. At the link above, you can join and support the move to get rid of these manipulative measures. Please join us! The group was just create.
I think many of you people are upset by what you see on those commercials, and you would rather turn it off than have to actually THINK about what goes on in this world.
I wish slaughterhouses had glass walls, and then I bet alot of people might re-think the choices they make. The days of the happy little farm with the cows grazing on the hillside are long gone.
Mara:
I own one of those little farms with “happy cows grazing on a hillside” (15 cows). My neighbours own Happy cows grazing on a hillside
My cows’ greatest ambition is to become delicious, juicy “Rib-eye” steaks that will be served for $50+ bucks at an upscale resturant in your hometown.
My cows are happy. I’m happy because my cows are happy. My wife is happy when she goes to the bank. My neighbours are happy. Those who eat our steaks are happy because the are asking for more. (My “blue Heeler” cow-dog is so happy that I’ve named her “Happy”. Everybody is happy except H$U$. If H$U$ would get real in life, they would be happy.
C. Blii Hill
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There’s a new ad airing featuring Wayne-boy himself, no Sarah McLachlan soundtrack, and while there are some sad puppies and kitties, it also shows farm and wild animals. Methinks this site is making an impact….