Passage 6 A Push to Curb the Casual Use of Ugly Phrases
凈化語言,消除同性戀歧視 《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》
[00:01]For the first time since the Advertising Council was founded in 1942,
[00:07]the organization - which directs and coordinates public service campaigns
[00:12]on behalf of Madison Avenue and the media industry is introducing ads
[00:18]meant to deal with a social issue of concern to gays and lesbians.
[00:24]The campaign, which is scheduled to be announced
[00:27]by the council in Washington on Wednesday,
[00:30]will seek to discourage threatening and tormenting of teenagers
[00:34]who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
[00:39]The campaign, created pro bono by the New York office of Arnold Worldwide,
[00:47]urges an end to using derogatory language,
[00:51]particularly labeling anything deemed negative or unpleasant as "so gay."
[00:59]That is underlined by the theme of the campaign:
[01:03]"When you say, 'That's so gay,' do you realize what you say? Knock it off."
[01:11]There will be television and radio commercials,
[01:15]print and outdoor ads and a special Web site devoted to the campaign.
[01:21]Some spots feature celebrities, the young actress Hilary Duff
[01:27]and the comedian Wanda Sykes, delivering the message.
[01:32]The campaign is on behalf of a nonprofit organization in New York
[01:38]called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network,
[01:43]which promotes tolerance among students.
[01:48]GLSEN is spending about $2 million to develop and produce the campaign.
[01:57]The introduction of the campaign will be accompanied by GLSEN's release of
[02:04]the 2007 edition of an annual report, the National School Climate Survey.
[02:12]The survey will report that 9 in 10 teenagers who are lesbian, gay,
[02:18]bisexual or transgender said they were often verbally annoyed
[02:24]during the last school year.
[02:27]Almost half said they were also often physically harassed
[02:31]because of their sexual orientation.
[02:35]The campaign is "something I've dreamed about for 10 years," said Kevin Jennings,
[02:42]the founder and executive director at Glsen,
[02:47]and has been in active development for two years.
[02:52]The campaign is "a very bold step" on the part of the council,
[02:57]Mr. Jennings said, in that "this will be, by a million miles,
[03:03]the largest public education campaign on L.G.B.T. issues.
[03:10]"I think they know they're going to take some attack," he added,
[03:14]referring to the leadership of the council.
[03:18]Peggy Conlon, the president and chief executive of the council,
[03:24]said she did not believe, however, that there would be negative reaction.
[03:30]In conversations with public service directors
[03:34]he staff members at media outlets who help determine
[03:39]which pro bono campaigns run
[03:43]"a very small percentage said they would not run the work," she said,
[03:48]"not because it was 'radioactive,'
[03:52]but because they thought it was not appropriate for their target audience,"
[03:56]which may be older than those to whom the campaign is addressed.