Commercials Urge Weeklong TV Break

A Canadian social activist group urged television viewers to do without TV for a week in two 30-second spots that ran in “CNN Headline News” on Wednesday. Vancouver-based Adbusters urged parents to wean their children from television during TV Turnoff Week today through Wednesday. The commercial shows an 8-year-old girl sitting in front of a TV with the sound of a violence-laden local news report blaring from the set. “Who will be her role model, you or the networks?” asks the voiceover. Adbusters said it paid $2,000 for each of the spots. The group said it had approached ABC, NBC and CBS but that its request for air time was turned down. A spokeswoman for ABC, however, said an advertiser must buy time before an ad will be reviewed. Kalle Lasn, editor of Adbusters magazine, acknowledged that the cost of prime-time network advertising was prohibitive for his group.