Magic Underpants, Inc., strikes again:

Bruce Palenske’s recent full-page advertisement in The Park Record says he is “appalled and dismayed” with what he sees as the role of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the dispute about the gay-marriage ballot measure in California…. Soon after it was published locally, Palenske says, a salesperson for the firm that handles advertising for The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News contacted him about buying space for a similar ad.

But, according to Palenske’s telling, a dispute quickly ensued and the advertisement was not published. He says MediaOne of Utah, the firm that handles advertising, printing and circulation for the two daily newspapers, pushed up the price of the advertisement two days before it was supposed to run, forcing Palenske, who lives in Pinebrook, to cancel the ad.

He suggests the Mormon church pressured MediaOne based on the content of the advertisement. Palenske, however, does not provide evidence of a church role in dispute.

“Who else would not want it to appear? It was against the LDS church,” he says.

19 replies on “Some Daily Papers Are Doing So Well That They Can Refuse Ads”

  1. You should know better than anybody that it is your paper’s right to refuse, run, or gouge whatever ads you see fit.

    You’re being a bitch.

  2. Doesn’t shock me one bit. I bet someone at the ad agency went to their bishop about this and was told what to do. That’s how they roll in Utah.

  3. Years ago, my sister converted to Mormonism, and married a real asshole. We couldn’t go to the wedding because it was in the temple in Washington DC, (the one that looks like the Emerald City) and apparently, what goes on inside is top secret or something. Maybe their underwear will lose it’s magic if non-Mormon folk are allowed inside the palace.

    We were allowed at the reception, held at a nearby hotel. The wedding cake was in the shape of the temple. I wanted to write “Surrender Dorothy” on it, but that might have caused a ruckus at a family event.

    Every holiday, she’d have her Mormon friends over, ug! and she’d play horrible recruitment videos. Luckily, she didn’t insist that we watch them. The only good part was that she’d also have the missionary boys over. (Let’s just say, more than one of the Elders was open to a bit of fun. Proselyting can be a two way street.)

    Anyway, her Mormon husband thought it was his duty to slap her around. This started after the wedding, and my sister quickly came to her senses. The church, and “master” of the house, didn’t want to let her go. My sister has done quite well for herself, and both the LDS and her not so well off husband, wanted their cut. With a lot of determination, she got away from them.

    I guess it’s too late to say long story short, but the point is, Mormonism is much like the Mafia. They try to control everything, and everyone they can, they want their cut, and are not above of hurting people to get their way.

  4. Non – no one is saying they didn’t have the right to eliminate the discount they’d offered him. Of course, they could do that if they wanted to. The question is, why did they do it two days before publication, when the ad had already been paid for and a proof of the ad approved?

    I think it’s a little much that he’s making the accusation against LDS with absolutely nothing to back it up, but, it does seem pretty suspicious…

  5. Aw come on. Maybe they just realized that EVERY mormon subscriber would cancel their subscription the instant they saw that ad. How long do you think the papers would last if they lost all their subscribers?

  7. Wait, are you implying that a wealthy and highly influential church is acting to suppress criticism of their beliefs and actions in the public sphere?

  8. Non wrote:

    You should know better than anybody that it is your paper’s right to refuse, run, or gouge whatever ads you see fit.

    Not after you’ve made an agreement and accepted payment.

    Palenske says he agreed to the price, paid with a credit card and approved a proof of the ad. The ad was supposed to be published on Sunday, Dec. 28.

    At just before 1 p.m. on the Friday before the ad was scheduled to run, Palenske says he received a call from a MediaOne representative telling him the $2,000 quote was not accurate. The ad would cost the full $10,500, Palenske says he was told.

    An invoice provided by Palenske indicates the ad was scheduled to run in The Tribune in the A section and on the newspaper’s Web site. It was also to be placed in the A section of the Deseret News and on the paper’s Web site, according to the invoice

  10. I like that somewhere right now, beneath a blog post subheaded “The Gay Agenda Strikes Again,” Mormon commenters are gleefully linking something in today’s news to the puppetmasters of the imaginary Pink Soviet.

  11. #3

    Your tale of woe sounds like my ex wife, and her conversion to Fundie Church. Curious as to why you think only the Mormons have all this big time fervor, take your money and try to convert all the friends and family?

    That is the game for Fundies, Evangelicals and assorted mega churches as well.

    Your Mormon hating is pointing “flaws” – when every church I have ever been in is collecting money, as much as they can get from you. I have an aunt who is a very faithful Baptist, proud she is a 100 per cent tithe payer. Nothing to do with any Mormons.

    All which says nothing about the asshole Pope, surely not a Mormon, who preaches wold wide hate against gay people to a far large audience than any one else in the world. Why is Sir Poppa off the hook? The REAL enemy? And the enemy of substance that makes Mormons look like small time.

    I am much more concerned by the wave after wave of Catholic gay hating than anything from inconsequential Mormons. (the Pope just finished a new anti-gay rant last week, mostly not covered)

  12. @11, My experience was with Mormons, and this is a thread about that religion. I deemed it a bit off topic to start ranting about every other religion, given those circumstances. Oh, and I don’t hate anyone, please don’t project your feeling onto me.

  15. @13, I don’t hate anyone. (You need a bit of self-examination to see from what dark place inside yourself you are pulling that .) I don’t agree with the Mormon religion, but I don’t hate them. I don’t know where you come from, but criticism doesn’t equate to hate in my world. I don’t advocate that they not be able to live as they want, believe as they want, just that they give me the same freedom.

  18. #15

    since there are thousands of very different churches out there – really – why do you care what they believe at all

    ever?

    want to be a critic, try the ones who deny children medical attention and see them die instead – for starters

  19. @ 12 13 15
    Rob is sore at the Moremans because they reamed him a new one on Prop 8.
    Come on, Rob, take it like a man!!
    -stop squealing like a bitch

Comments are closed.