The Ruckus Society was tired of hearing the news media villify poor woman collecting assistance from the government, while defense contractors collecting billions in wasteful Pentagon contracts were lauded as true patriots.

Our Job

Our team developed an billboard ad that we thought would likely be rejected by billboard companies. Sure enough, the sales rep from the billboard company to us that our artwork was too offensive to place on a public billboard owned by her esteemed company. We asked that the company send us back our $4,500 check with a letter explaining the decision to reject us

Once we got the letter of rejection from the billboard company's sales rep, informing us that our design was too "offenive to the community," we churned out the news release release below.

Results

Our ad was actually printed in columns in the Washington Post and Boston Globe, and it generated talk radio fodder across the country.

RUCKUS SOCIETY
2054 University Ave, #204, Berkeley, CA, 94704 (www.ruckus.org)
510-848-9565 (phone) 510-848-9541 (fax)

Contact: Jason Salzman For Immediate Release 303-292-1524

Billboard Company Rejects "Pentagon Welfare Queens" Ad

Boston Ad Depicting CEOs of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon
Seen by AK Media As Potentially "Offensive to the Community"

Activists Say Defense Contractors, who Rip Off Taxpayers, Are "Offensive"

Berkeley -- Claiming that the Ruckus Society's "Pentagon Welfare Queens" advertisement "could be offensive to the community," AK Media canceled a pre-paid contract to place the ad on a billboard located along commuter route to Raytheon's corporate headquarters near Boston.

The advertisement depicts the CEOs of America's largest defense contractors dressed as up-scale "welfare queens," highlighting their companies' policies of taking handouts from the Pentagon--in the form of lucrative contracts for wasteful weapons systems, like the F-22 fighter jet and Star Wars.

The Ruckus advertisement lists the names of each CEO under his photo. They include: Vance Coffman, CEO of Maryland-based Lockheed Martin; Daniel Burnham, CEO of Boston-based Raytheon; and Philip Condit, CEO of Seattle-based Boeing.

"If America doesn't build the F-22 Fighter jet--which is designed to fight the collapsed Soviet Union-we could renovate half of America's crumbling schools," says Jason Salzman, a spokesman for the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society. "Defense contractors--who promote the F-22 and other wasteful weapons--are offensive, not our billboard ad."

As examples of how defense contractors receive and promote "Pentagon welfare," the Ruckus Society cited these facts:

- Leaders of Lockheed Martin have just completed a furious lobbying effort to stop Congress from cutting the $64 billion F-22 fighter, which was designed to fight the collapsed Soviet Union. Lockheed warned key legislators in their home districts that hundreds of jobs would be lost if there was not enough money to build the Air Force's wasteful fighter jet.

- Raytheon and Boeing are leaders in the development of Star Wars technology, which is widely regarded by scientists as a boondoggle and has already cost taxpayers $55 billion--enough money to renovate about half of America's run-down schools.

- The weapons industry spends more on lobbying and political contributions than the tobacco industry.

The Ruckus Society is a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, CA. It conducts workshops and training camps for activists around the country.