An advertising company in Ocean City, Maryland announced Wednesday it’s ditching political ads in response to severe backlash from the local community over two ads purchased by the Donald Trump campaign.
Ocean Aerial Ads, run by Bob Bunting, uses a small fleet of planes to fly ads up and down the beach in Ocean City. And the company’s planes recently began flying two ads purchased by the Trump campaign: “Stop Mad Cow Disease-Defeat Hillary,” and “America First-Build The Wall Now.”
Members of the local community began complaining Monday afternoon to the Mayor, as well as to the Ocean City Dispatch, the local newspaper, reports The Dispatch. The backlash was so severe that Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan addressed the issue in a city council meeting. Meehan explained that he called Bunting, who reported he would no longer run the ads in response to the outrage.
“We learned about the political ads on the banner planes yesterday afternoon when we began getting emails from concerned citizens via the town’s website,” city communications director Jessica Waters told the Ocean City Dispatch. “Shortly after learning about the political ads, the mayor received a call from Mr. Bunting who explained his decision not to fly any more political banners due to the controversy it was causing.”
“The banner planes are unique to Ocean City and something most, if not all, of our visitors look forward to seeing during their stay,” Waters continued. “They are fun, welcoming and a great way to inform guests of our local businesses. I don’t believe Mr. Bunting expected that the political banners would be upsetting to some, and it is my understanding that once he realized it was causing concern, he made the decision to stop flying them.”
Bunting announced his decision to drop all political ads publicly in a statement to the Ocean City Dispatch.
“It’s just not worth the aggravation of people not being able to handle the political system,” Bunting said. “I agreed to just not accept any political ads whatsoever anymore. I’m going to lay low and not do any political ads. People just can’t handle it anymore and there’s so much hate in this world. Today’s parties want to fight each other and just be mean to each other.”
“It’s not worth it,” he continued. “There’s just no tolerance anymore for opposing viewpoints. People don’t understand people buy advertising, just like they do in The Dispatch. These weren’t vulgar ads in anyway. If the Democrats want them now, guess what they don’t get them. Where’s the American way? I’ve never seen anything so nasty. People are scared to say what they really feel anymore. Everyone is just too sensitive. It’s a shame.”
National news and media site Buzzfeed announced early June it would no longer be running political ads supportive of Trump, despite the almost $1.3 million contract its advertising department signed with the Republican Party. Buzzfeed continues to air ads supporting the Democratic nominee.
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