Billboards marketing virtues we can use now

THOMPSON E-mail: Click here

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 2, 2002

You may have already seen them around town: billboards that tell you how to live. Advertising that's pitching not product, but values.

On Gandy Boulevard, right before the bridge, a billboard shows the gray image of a firefighter covered in ashes. The text reads: "When others ran out, he rushed in. Courage. Pass It On."

Of course we get it right away -- the World Trade Center. But this is not a campaign inspired by Sept. 11. The Foundation for a Better Life, a group affiliated with the Anschutz Foundation (founded by Qwest chairman Philip Anschutz), is behind the campaign. They were ready to roll out the first billboards and other outdoor advertising on Sept. 13.

Oops. Like so many other things, the campaign was postponed, but unlike so many other things, it's even more relevant now. We're supposed to be more interested in values now, though you kind of wouldn't know that from reading the news. Of course Enron started cheating way before Sept. 11. So did Steve LaBrake.

Three of the ads, which are appearing around the country, refer to Sept. 11. The rest tout various character traits we'd all do well to acquire. Space is donated, in the Tampa Bay area by ClearVision, and the current messages will be up until mid February. The campaign is planned to continue for several years.

On Martin Luther King Boulevard, Mother Teresa's message: "Reaching beyond yourself. Compassion. Pass It On."

On I-275, an American flag at ground zero: "No setback will set us back. Determination. Pass It On."

On E Hillsborough, a soulful shot of Muhammad Ali is featured with this copy: "His biggest fight yet isn't in the ring. Courage. Pass It On."

Integrity. Selflessness. Generosity. Unity. Opportunity.

There are nine billboards in Tampa, more in Pinellas and Pasco.

Among the billboards for Hooters and Metabolife, will virtues sell? Who knows, but maybe they'll seep into the collective subconscious. We can certainly use them.

People in high places don't seem to know what character is about anymore. Even when they get caught, they don't get it.

Steve LaBrake still claims he didn't do anything wrong -- and something that calls itself an ethics committee so far has agreed. He'll never be the poster boy for Integrity.

Metropolitan Ministries didn't allow Jews or other non-Christians on its board until this week (and still doesn't have any on the board) -- though donors' checks aren't screened for religious affiliation. No poster child here for Unity.

Ken Lay, Enron's ex-chief who pulled out some $300-million in company stock while it was still worth something, last week called in the image police in the form of Jesse Jackson, who compared him to Job. And his wife went on TV to shed tears and tell us they'd lost everything. Oh please, honey. What about the $8-million you have in stock (not Enron's)? The $25-million in real estate holdings? Your $7-million apartment? No poster children for Self-reliance.

Gary Condit, the guy who got pushed off the front page by Sept. 11, didn't come clean even when the young woman he'd been seeing and is now presumed dead, disappeared into thin air. No candidate for Decency. Or, we hope, anything else.

Character. Maybe it's a word we'll start using again.

In the meantime, there are good people we rarely hear about unless they saved someone who jumped from the Skyway (Courage). People whose everyday lives show character through and through.

Like, a teacher in a ghetto school: Selflessness.

A Hospice worker: Compassion.

A poverty-level kid who goes on to college: Determination.

The person who left a note on my windshield at Publix telling me I had a flat: Consideration.

- Sandra Thompson is a writer living in Tampa. She can be reached at tampa@sptimes.com. City Life appears on Saturday.

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