http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2037882/Car-dealership-advert-tells-atheists-to-'shut-up'.html Car dealership advert tells atheists to 'shut up'
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 3:51PM BST 27/05/2008
An advert calling for non-Christians to "sit down and shut up" is being used to sell Ford cars in the United States.
The radio commercial – which attacks people who call for the secularisation of American institutions – has been aired to promote an independent Ford dealership in California.
. . .
The advert, which makes no mention of the quality or price of the dealership’s cars, has been broadcast on local radio stations in the south of the state since February.
Listeners who contacted Ford to complain were told that the dealership was independent and privately owned, and is responsible for its own advertising. There is no suggestion that Ford approved the content of the advert.
Anna Lemma, a blogger and former Air Force officer who was one of the first to raise concerns about the advert, described it as "quite possibly the most offensive advertisement for an automobile dealership that I have ever heard".
"I really don't care about what his opinion of us godless folks is, but the most offensive part of the ad is the 'shut up and sit down' part," she said.
Full Transcript of the ad:
Did you know that there are people in this country who want prayer out of schools, "Under God" out of the Pledge, and "In God We Trust" to be taken off our money?
But did you know that 86 per cent of Americans say they believe in God? Since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Kieffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don't tell the other 14 per cent to sit down and shut up.
I guess I just offended 14 per cent of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that's tough, this is America folks, it's called free speech.
None of us at Kieffe & Sons Ford is afraid to speak out. Kieffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don't see you today, by the grace of God, we'll be here tomorrow."
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/456451.htmlCar dealer regrets ads urging non-Christians to 'sit down and shut up' By JOHN COX, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jcox@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, May 28 2008 11:21 AM
A radio ad that tells non-Christians to “sit down and shut up” has prompted a flood of phone calls to the Kern County car dealer who paid for the ads and now regrets airing them.
Rick Kieffe, owner of Kieffe and Sons Ford in Mojave and Rosamond, insisted Wednesday that he does not remember approving the ad, which he said was written by his longtime advertising writer and producer in Oklahoma.
“It’s just something that went by us,” said Kieffe, who does not attend church but considers himself “a Christian spirit.” “We’re obviously sorry that it offends a given segment who identifies themselves as atheist.”
Airing on local AM and FM radio in eastern Kern County and the Antelope Valley, the ad has gained a lot of attention on the Internet, where blog posts go on and on about its pro-Christian, anti-atheist message.
Kieffe said he has received “an incredible amount” of calls from people as far away as Australia and England, most but not all of them from “very articulate, nice people.”
Blog Entry from self proclaimed ad writer And yes, it's one long paragraph with misspellings, run-on sentences, poor grammar and whiny comments.
http://jwhorne2.blogspot.com/ Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kieffe and Sons ford radio ad
For those of you out there in never never land or la la land or maybe underground and under the radar who are so called non believers, I am the man who wrote and recorded the Kieffe and sons spot. In fact I write and produce all of the Kieffe and Sons ford spots. I have had the pleasure of serving the advertising for the dealership for many years. I am a believer and I am pretty sure that most everyone at Kieffe and Sons ford are also believers. I wrote and produced the spot that so many of you "unbelievers" find offensive. Frankly I don't give a flip whether you are an athiest or just plain doubter. I wrote and recorded the truth. There is a great silent majority of Americans that are believers. The difference between them and you is this. Believers do not have to justify their existence. The only ones in this country that respond to an honest ad are the ones who seem to despise honesty. The truth is this. This country was founded on the belief in God. All you have to do is read the constitution and see for yourself. Now does that mean that everyone here must believe? NO absolutely not. The great thing about the constitution is that it allows for each American citizen to believe as the wish and speak and do what they want so long as it is within the law. I support that. I support everyones right to think and do and live as they wish. I do not condem any American that disagrees with me. You all can stand up and shout, burn flags, gather on a corner and cuss the government, males can marry males, females can marry females you can all buy one of those imports and send the money to Japan if you want, but you do not have the right to force your philosophy on to others. I think that it is time for you to understand this very simple little fact. You are in the minority and as loud as you yell and protest, you will always be in the minority. If you don't like the radio spot then don't listen to it, but if you were careful enough to listen to the entire spot you would have heard me say that to the good people at Kieffe and Sons ford "everyone one is welcome at the dealership whether you are a believer or not, you are still welcome. You would also have heard me say that you may get God taken out of the class room and the pledge and even off our money, but you will not get God out of this dealership. We do business according to the rules of the good book.. if you are offended by that, then you are offended by the truth. So each of you who find some offense to the radio ad and you want to be up in arms over it, you have the right to think what you wish but you do not have the right to take my copyrighted material and destort it for your personal gain. If you are offended, well like I said in the commercial.. thats tough.
-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale
Edit to add You Tube link w/audio:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sOVAZolE4iYChristian Bigotry at a Ford Dealership? Includes these comments from the poster:
Well today (Wednesday 5-28) I talked at length again to Rick Kieffe, who called himself "The other end of the horse's mouth." lol
He's a real nice guy. He wanted me to tell you all that the ad is a part of a series of ads they do every quarter, and it's always tongue in cheek. The whole town where these ads air on the radio knows all about their ads. They're always over the top. So Rick is surprised at how fast word of this spread, and how sorely so many folks are taking this.
I asked if he had it to do all over again, would he run those ads? Would he install a disclaimer? He said he wouldn't run the ads at all. He said he didn't mean to upset or insult anyone, he's sorry that this made so many folks upset. He said that car dealers put a lot of advertising out and it always boring, the same old thing. So Kieffe and Sons Ford decided about 15 years ago to do advertising differently, to really try to draw peoples' attention. Apparently he had no idea that this particular ad would do that in spades.
He also said that he's received a whole lot of phone calls in the last 24 hours, and a great many of them are short, heated, and even vulgar. Some folks have called him and really let him have it over the phone, hard.
At the same time, he said he's also received a lot of friendly calls like mine.
He said he never expected people outside of that little town to even care about what's in advertising that goes out to a small radio station, only to that little area. I reminded him that we now live in a global community, and that Atheists and other non-Christians are using the internet like America uses cars. Probably too much...lol
In only two conversations with Rick Kieffe, he sounds like a real nice guy. With that being said, he did offer up a potential argument from the side of Christian fundamentalism. The ad started out as a complaint about the Pledge of Allegiance being legally challenged by "one kid in a classroom," which was a vague reference to Michael Newdow's child. He asked me if it sounded fair, and I asked if he knew that invoking religion in a radio ad will eventually make some people upset. No matter what you end up saying. He replied that he was now aware of that.
So the ad was meant to be over the top just to grab our attention, not as an official statement of the attitude of Kieffe and Sons Ford, but in the end, that's their attitude anyway. Rick even said that he's not a fundamentalist Christian by any means, but then repeated the Pledge argument against our side.
So what to think? Some religious bigotry comes draped in friendly smiles with secular intentions. Maybe if we just use this as an exercise. A way for us to respond carefully in a situation that calls for tact and care. They're very aware of their mistake, and they look at it as a mistake, but they do actually agree with the sentiment in the ad.
It's like we love milk, even though it sometimes comes out our noses when we laugh too hard. So milk is okay afterall. lol
I dunno...the exit was the problem.
Text of the ad: "But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Now since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Kieffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don't tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess maybe I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that's tough, this is America folks, it's called free speech, and none of us at Kieffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak out. Kieffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don't see you today, by the grace of God, we'll be here tomorrow."
Joe's comment: In the immortal words of Alex in the movie A Clockwork Orange, "Quick! Get me something to be sick in!"
By the way, yes I'm aware I misspelled Kieffe in this video. It's "Kieffe" and not "Keiffe" and it's also not "Keiffer." lol I'd fix the video, but you understand now, right? Of course you do. :o)
Their website:
http://www.kieffeandsons.com/