Freescale pulls national ad due to insensitivity

Posted: 08-29-2004, 11:34 PM
Anyone have this picture?? Would like a copy please.
cj

Freescale pulls national ad due to insensitivity
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Jane Larson
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 27, 2004 12:00 AM
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. pulled its new ad from Time, BusinessWeek
and other national publications after employees complained about the
image: a lion hiding under a light sheet with holes cut out for the
eyes, ears and nose.

The image, which reminded some of the Ku Klux Klan or hostage-takers,
"was interpreted differently than we planned," spokesman Scott Stevens
said Thursday.

He said the company apologizes for the insensitivity of the image.

Freescale, formerly the computer-chipmaking side of Motorola Inc.,
launched the ad campaign intending to tell consumers that there is
technological strength behind its new and unfamiliar name.

Austin-based Freescale spun off from Motorola this year and has 3,400
employees in Tempe and Chandler.

The ad was developed by an outside agency, and some employees who saw
it as it was being sent to the magazines raised the concerns, Stevens
said.

The ad was pulled before publication in some magazines but not all. It
has since been replaced by one with an image of a lion in a Mardi
Gras-type mask.

It's unusual for a questionable ad to get so far in the process, given
how many people review various versions, said Win Holden, an
advertising veteran who is publisher of Arizona Highways magazine.

But Brian Landauer, senior vice president and general manager of
Cramer-Krasselt Advertising in Phoenix, said such ads do happen when
people get too close to the idea or when client companies want to push
the envelope to get noticed.

"People and companies have gotten much more conservative and sensitive
these days," Holden said.

Freescale dropped the agency team that developed the ad, scheduled
diversity training for employees involved in the campaign and has
formed a diversity panel to review future ads, Stevens said.
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