The fourth television campaign of The Caring Outreach was on the air in the Chicago/Northern Indiana media market in October and early November in 2008.
Purchased were 300 spots on cable stations throughout our seventeen county media area. Additional contributions allowed the purchase of additional spots that were added in the last weeks of the campaign on FOX and on the network station WGN. Some of these spots replaced the ads originally scheduled on ABC/Oprah.
The
campaign used dynamic pictures of the unborn baby in the womb in
the first 85
Days of life.
Clear images of the hands, feet, and face in the first month or two of life will give millions of viewers throughout our metropolitan area an opportunity to “see” the
baby in the womb of his or her mother.
The image of the baby’s beating heart at four weeks is sure to stay with
you and the millions of other viewers who saw this ad on their TV sets
in the privacy of their own homes.
View
the ad in Spanish.
These pictures were first introduced to Wisconsin residents by the producer
of this thirty second ad, the Veritas Society, in 2007. Used statewide, they
succeeded in moving Wisconsin residents to a more pro-life position! Results
indicated that 80% of those who saw the ad agreed that the ad made
them think about the value of human life and 8% said they grew in their opposition
to abortion.
The
Chicago media market reaches over nine million people in
17 counties.
Pro-life groups in other states (Wisconsin, Michigan
and Missouri) using educational TV ads regularly over the
last ten years, have experienced a significant decline in abortions.
Three Previous TV Campaigns
Extensive
market studies have been conducted by the Vitae Caring Foundation to develop,
produce and air pro-life messages to reframe the abortion issue. The goal
is to create a shift in the public's attitude from
pro-abortion to pro-life. When used across the
country, the ads were studied for their effectiveness with pre-
and post- testing. We used this information when choosing the ads to use
in Chicago.
In 2000, The Caring Outreach brought pro-life commercials
to Chicago network television for the first time. We used A “Call-for-Help” television
commercial (researched and produced by the Vitae Caring Foundation) on Chicago
network stations 292 times for seven weeks in February and March of 2000.
This ad was designed specifically to encourage women in
need of pregnancy assistance to call for information and help. As with all
our television messages, it listed the national
1-800-395-HELP CareNet number.
CareNet reported that this Illinois campaign generated over
2000 calls to their national hotline number during that time period and we
know of a number of babies saved. This message demonstrated of the care and
compassion pro-lifers have for both women and babies.
You
can see this ad by clicking here.
Vitae Caring Foundation ad "Life Saver" used in 2004
and again in 2005
At the scene of a fire, a young female firefighter rescues a small child
and returns her to distraught, but now grateful parents. She speaks to the
camera, saying...
"Being alive today has special meaning ...for both of us.
There have been times that I almost didn't make it. But the one time I had
the most to lose was before I was even born. My mom was young. Single. No
money. I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to give me a chance. But I know today
she'd be very proud-that her decision saved more than one life."
In January of 2004, The Caring
Outreach launched another television media effort in the Chicago area. Two
messages ran a total of 470 times on all network stations in the Chicago
media market.
These pro-life messages, "LifeSaver" and "Sonogram" were placed on programs
watched primarily by women 18 to 49 years of age - shows like Days of our
Lives, Oprah, Dr. Phil, The Early Show, The Today Show, and a number of local
news shows (all non-prime spots).
Stations WGN, WMAQ/NBC, WBBM/CBS, WFLD/FOX and WCIU accepted and ran both
commercials as requested. Only WLS/ABC (Channel 7) refused to run "Sonogram," although
they did accept and run "LifeSaver." Our time buyer informed us that this
was the first time that ABC accepted any pro-life message for their national
network stations!
Each and every one of our commercials end with a national pro-life hotline
phone number, 1 800-395-HELP to encourage those needing pregnancy assistance
to call for help. That number is answered 24/7 by an experienced operator
who is able to offer information and/or referrals to local pro-life alternative
agencies as needed.
Post-polling revealed that we were successful in moving women in particular
to a more pro-life position.
See the post-polling results
here (PDF).
Vitae Caring Foundation ad, "Sonogram" used
in 2004
The "Sonogram" TV ad opens with a woman watching as her daughter has an
ultrasound examination of her unborn baby. The older woman says:
"Back when I decided I was pro-choice my daughter was just an infant.
The internet was unheard of and today's medical wonders were unimaginable.
We now know an unborn baby's heart beats at 21 days and they can measure
brain waves just nineteen days later. Abortion was legalized about thirty
years ago. You can learn a lot in thirty years. What I've learned makes
me wonder - wonder if abortion really is such an acceptable solution any
more"
Once again, post-polling indicated that we were successful in moving women
to a more pro-life position.
See the post-polling results
here (PDF).
In 2005, The Caring Outreach
placed 68 "LifeSaver" messages on Chicago network television once again.
Polling results for the "LifeSaver" ad in 2004 and in other parts of
the country encouraged its continued use. Once again the CareNet national
hotline number was placed at the end of the ad. Our three TV campaigns brought
a total of 830 pro-life messages to millions of people in our seventeen-county
media market area. Our commercials are run on network television during non-prime
time slots. They have effectively reached those who would never hear the
pro-life perspective in any other way.
Rewards of Using Television Advertising
Our neighbors in Wisconsin have used television advertising since 1995 and
have experienced a significant and steady decline in their state wide abortion
numbers.
The Vitae Caring Foundation reports on their website that those who view
their commercials show a "clearly definable decrease" in support of abortion.
In addition they report that
"Each of these studies' findings consistently demonstrate that the Vitae
Caring Foundation's media program is effective in changing key attitudes.
Follow-up studies to these pre/post-media viewership studies show that
the Vitae Caring Foundation commercials' messages are recalled for several
months after the media exposure in the market has ended."
Their
full report can be viewed here.
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a contribution as you can today.
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