Atheist billboards rejected

[unholy1971]

I heard the below story on the radio this morning while driving to work.  I googled it this evening, and thought I'd share.  How does everyone feel about this ?

MANSFIELD, Ohio -- An Ohio atheist civil rights group is upset that a Mansfield-based company rejected billboards depicting Jesus, Poseidon, Satan and Santa Claus as myths.


The Mansfield News Journal reports Mid Ohio Atheists says Lind Media Co. waited until one business day before the billboards were to go up to inform the group that they had been denied.

Lind Vice President Maura Siegenthaler says the company felt that the signs were intentionally shocking. She says it's the company's right to reject content it deems inappropriate.

The Ohio organization's parent group American Atheists President Dave Silverman says the billboards showed how atheists recognize Poseidon, Jesus, Santa and the devil as myths. He says the target audience is "fellow atheists who are still in the closet."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Link to story from AP

Link to story from Mansfield News Journal

(Edited to add links to sources. -- Recusant)

[Asmodean]

It's just billboards... I don't see why that company would reject them as long as they were within the law of whatever place they were to be displayed.

[Recusant]

It's a private company making this decision, so not a free speech issue, though perhaps they may be liable for breach of contract. They may be concerned about vandalism of their signs, or they may simply think that they don't want to alienate possible Christian customers...

(I sent you a PM, unholy1971.)

[Whitney]

I think they should had been up front in rejecting the concept instead of waiting till after the group had (presumably) spent money printing the billboards.  It's a private company so there really isn't any legal issue with it; though I do think they should sue for any money that could have been lost in printing after the agreement was originally reached.  

And of course it was meant to be shocking...you don't come up with a concept like that without the idea that it would ruffle a few feathers in addition to reaching out to closet atheists.  AA is simply too well organized and experienced with publicity to pretend like they didn't recognize the shock value of comparing Jesus to more obvious myths; even locally we consider shock factor when looking at billboard/ad concepts an consider if the message will attract the kind of attention we are looking for or not.