Insurance provider in Spain pulls sponsorship of anti-Catholic program

Madrid, Spain, Jun 16, 2008 / 12:41 pm

The civil rights watchdog organization in Spain, HazteOir.org, has reported that the insurance company Ocaso has decided to pull its ads from the anti-Catholic comedy program, "Saved by the Church," broadcast by La Sexta network.
 
The website said the offenses against the Catholic faith in this program could constitute "a crime according to article 535 of the Penal Code," and that "more than 29,000 complaints against decision makers of the companies that are sponsoring ads during the program" have been made. The companies include El Corte Ingles, General Optica, Seat and Fujitsu.
 
Alejandro Compoy, the website's spokesman, said the decision by Ocaso shows the company is committed to "the highest standards of corporate social responsibility in responding one by one to the complaints sent by viewers and informing them of their decision to pull their ads from the offensive program."
 
Eugenio Ros, Director of Marketing for Ocaso, said the company "would not allow its commercials to run during programs that could offend the sensibilities of any specific group of viewers."
 
"The alert over this program continues to be active," the website stated. "The objective is to get more companies that are contributing to keeping this offensive content on the air by running commercials to reconsider their decision."