ColorOfChange, which led the successful boycott of the Glenn Beck show on Fox News, is now using radio to spotlight what it considers to be an unsavory relationship between a pharmaceutical company and a right wing policy group.
The pharma company is Johnson & Johnson, and the group is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
ColorOfChange believes that ALEC is working to suppress the Black vote and in support of stand your ground laws, which became a national issue due to the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in Florida. It believes ALEC’s causes work against African Americans, Latinos, workers, and the poor.
The group is targeting Johnson & Johnson because it helps fund ALEC. “With these ads, we are spreading the news about Johnson & Johnson’s ties to ALEC even more aggressively,” said ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson. “Our goal is to help consumers understand that Johnson & Johnson helps fund a secretive and undemocratic organization that has passed laws that restrict access to the polls for Black folks, Latinos, low-income voters and other marginalized groups. The stakes are too high, and Americans deserve to know when their spending habits promote polices that are at odds with their values.”
The ads are running in Washington DC, Chicago and in J&J’s home base New Brunswick NJ. Stations targeting African-American listeners figure to be the beneficiaries.
