If you’ve seen the Michael Vick Project on BET recently (yeah, I know why would you?), you will have noticed a severed decrease in ads(Guess Michael Vick IS Toxic for Advertisers After all).  The only thing left to advertise on this show seems to be public service announcements (free typically), ads for other BET shows (non-paying in real cash), movies for Time Warner (ok these guys never really got it), and maybe another ad that BET seems to be sliding into a spot until the advertiser like all the dozens before them, re-read their contract and notice that the Michael Vick Project isn’t specifically included.  Then they probably call up BET and say, hey I’m not paying money for an ad placing my brand up there with a convicted dog killer, take my ad down now!

If you joined with us in this campaign to prevent a convicted felon from profiting from his crime (like that stroll down memory lane that Michael Vick took when he went back to his Virginia home went up into the barn loft where he held dog fights and smelled the blood on the carpet in the dog fighting ring – holy crap, I wish I was making that up!  Sick), any way, I thank everyone that emailed or called sponsors to make them aware that BET had slapped their ads up on the Michael Vick Project.

To all the sponsors whose ads temporarily ran with this show, let this be a lesson to you.  When you negotiate advertising contracts with a network make sure you exclude morally bankrupt shows that promote felons and their crimes, make sure that you also receive a notification before your ads run with a new show as well so that you won’t end up looking at your fortune 500 brand pimping a psychopath on cable TV.  If you don’t we will call you on it.

Philadelphia – PSPCA Says Dogfighting Up Because of Michael Vick

By KYW’s Tony Hanson 3/5/10
Podcast on webpage – 10:55 minutes

(Forwarded message – for info, please visit

http://www.kyw1060.com/SPCA-Says-Dogfighting-Up-in-Phila–Because-of-Vick/6507085)

SPCA authorities say dogfighting in Philadelphia has gone up dramatically over the past year and the authorities cite a Michael Vick factor.

The number of animal fighting investigations, the vast majority of them dogfighting, has gone up from 237 in 2008 to over 800 last year – three to four times more. George Bengal, director of investigations for the SPCA, says some of the owner offenders have been drawn to the sport by an idol.

“Michael Vick in my view definitely enters into the equation. A lot of the younger generation looks up to him as an idol and they idolize him and try to mimic the things he had done, which is not good.”

Bengal doesn’t discount Vick’s public service work since his release from prison and the upside is the notoriety of the case has prompted the public to be more vigilant and report more suspicious activity leading to the discovery of more dogfighting operations.

Yesterday, March 9th, Vick received the Ed Block Courage award in Baltimore. About 100+ protesters turned out for a peaceful protest. All major Baltimore news stations were there and videos can be found on their web sites.