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CNN Live Today

Interview With Peggy Conlon

Aired September 08, 2003 - 11:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Ad Council launched a new public spot today to coincide with the second anniversary of 9/11 tragedy. They're collectively titled "Campaign for Freedom." Peggy Conlon is president and CEO of the Ad Council and she joins us from New York this morning. Peggy, good to have you with us.
PEGGY CONLON, PRES., THE AD COUNCIL: Thanks for having us, Daryn.

KAGAN: First, let's talk about the theme here and that is appreciating freedom. I thought the Ad Council had a very interesting poll asking Americans do you think, we as Americans, appreciate our freedom?

CONLON: Well, and I think people say yes they do but they don't think about freedom as much as they feel that they should. And so this campaign is really designed to help inspire people to think about what freedom means to them and what it means to our country.

KAGAN: And interesting as time goes by, I know the Ad Council did this last year but if you look at last year's ads compared to this year's you can see a progression. Last year I think there was some more fear involved in that. Let's look at one from last year and the one from this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me. I can't seem to find these anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These books are no longer available.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I have your name please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? What did I do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to ask you a couple of questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Easy, easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Definitely kind of an ominous, fear-based campaign there. I want to show what people will be seeing this year now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I stay in Cambodia I would have been dead by now. It was dictated by communists. You have to dress a certain way, you have to look a certain way. If you know how to read and write, you're dead. If you speak your mind, you're dead. Communists kicked down our door and there was four children in the house, and my mother and my dad basically asked us to go under the basement. My father died because of us.

Why did I come here? Freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Very effective ad. Can you talk, Peggy, a little bit about the progression of that?

CONLON: Well, we have a whole body of work that started right after 9/11 with "I am an American." It progressed to last summer where we had these particular ads that really dramatized of what life would be like if we didn't have our freedoms.

And now this latest round work is really celebrating the patriotic immigrants and dramatizing what freedom means to us through these real live stories of people who were denied their freedoms.

KAGAN: We just showed some television ads. You'll also be seeing some ads in newspapers and magazines. I want to put up the one that talks about the religious leaders that kind of catches your attention. It says, "A priest, a rabbi and an imam are walking down the street. This is no joke." There it is. Kind of hard to see there.

But there's no punch line is what you are saying. Basically it's a just beautiful thing that could happen here in America where in so many countries it would probably incite violence.

CONLON: Well, that's correct. And really, again, we're dramatizing the blending of people who've come to this country to experience our freedoms that they've been denied in are countries around the world.

KAGAN: Freedom, appreciate, it cherish it, protect it. Thank you, Peggy. Thanks for being here and thanks for efforts in the Ad Council. Appreciate it.

CONLON: Thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 8, 2003 - 11:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Ad Council launched a new public spot today to coincide with the second anniversary of 9/11 tragedy. They're collectively titled "Campaign for Freedom." Peggy Conlon is president and CEO of the Ad Council and she joins us from New York this morning. Peggy, good to have you with us.
PEGGY CONLON, PRES., THE AD COUNCIL: Thanks for having us, Daryn.

KAGAN: First, let's talk about the theme here and that is appreciating freedom. I thought the Ad Council had a very interesting poll asking Americans do you think, we as Americans, appreciate our freedom?

CONLON: Well, and I think people say yes they do but they don't think about freedom as much as they feel that they should. And so this campaign is really designed to help inspire people to think about what freedom means to them and what it means to our country.

KAGAN: And interesting as time goes by, I know the Ad Council did this last year but if you look at last year's ads compared to this year's you can see a progression. Last year I think there was some more fear involved in that. Let's look at one from last year and the one from this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me. I can't seem to find these anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These books are no longer available.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I have your name please?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? What did I do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to ask you a couple of questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Easy, easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Definitely kind of an ominous, fear-based campaign there. I want to show what people will be seeing this year now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I stay in Cambodia I would have been dead by now. It was dictated by communists. You have to dress a certain way, you have to look a certain way. If you know how to read and write, you're dead. If you speak your mind, you're dead. Communists kicked down our door and there was four children in the house, and my mother and my dad basically asked us to go under the basement. My father died because of us.

Why did I come here? Freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Very effective ad. Can you talk, Peggy, a little bit about the progression of that?

CONLON: Well, we have a whole body of work that started right after 9/11 with "I am an American." It progressed to last summer where we had these particular ads that really dramatized of what life would be like if we didn't have our freedoms.

And now this latest round work is really celebrating the patriotic immigrants and dramatizing what freedom means to us through these real live stories of people who were denied their freedoms.

KAGAN: We just showed some television ads. You'll also be seeing some ads in newspapers and magazines. I want to put up the one that talks about the religious leaders that kind of catches your attention. It says, "A priest, a rabbi and an imam are walking down the street. This is no joke." There it is. Kind of hard to see there.

But there's no punch line is what you are saying. Basically it's a just beautiful thing that could happen here in America where in so many countries it would probably incite violence.

CONLON: Well, that's correct. And really, again, we're dramatizing the blending of people who've come to this country to experience our freedoms that they've been denied in are countries around the world.

KAGAN: Freedom, appreciate, it cherish it, protect it. Thank you, Peggy. Thanks for being here and thanks for efforts in the Ad Council. Appreciate it.

CONLON: Thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com