Advertisements You Won’t See

KNBC-TV Channel 4 is refusing to run several Virgin Cola USA advertisements, some of which also have been rejected by stations in other television markets around the country.

Virgin’s so-called soapbox ads offer a television pulpit that media celebrities and consumers have used to promote discussion of controversial issues ranging from a gay wedding to President Clinton’s legal woes. Some observers say the ads are designed to grab attention in the competitive soft drink category dominated by market leaders Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc.

“You almost have to wonder if this [campaign] is designed to get them into the newspaper . . . if they’re doing whatever they can do to get a little bit of attention,” said John Carlson, a partner with Cannondale Associates, a Wilton, Conn.-based marketing firm.

Virgin Cola founder and Chairman Richard Branson is a virtuoso when it comes to generating publicity. He drove an army tank through the streets of New York in the spring when he began importing his Virgin Cola line into the U.S. from European markets. He kicked off the ad series by using his soapbox to challenge Coca-Cola Chairman M. Douglas Ivester to a debate--an invitation Ivester ignored.

KNBC executives acknowledged that the NBC affiliate opted not to run some of the ads. A station spokeswoman said some commercials were “felt to be of questionable taste, not suitable to air on our station.”

Virgin spokesman Jonathan Cutler said the rejected ads include video footage of a gay wedding, an MTV host who talks about urinals, and a video producer who refers to Virgin Cola USA executives as “bastards.”

Stations in San Diego, San Francisco, Boston and New York also have refused to run some of the ads, Cutler said, but no station has rejected as many as KNBC.