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WASHINGTON - November 11 - More than ten percent of all Hummer dealerships in America will be protested this Saturday (November 15th) by activists seeking to ban all radio and TV advertising for the 10,000-pound vehicles in the same way that ads for deadly cigarettes are banned.
While contributing enormously to global warming, air pollution, and childhood asthma, the 10-miles-per-gallon Hummers -- made by General Motors -- are a huge threat to children and other car passengers who share the road with the Brinks Truck-like vehicles. Yet GM is now flooding our TV and radio airwaves with ads for the vehicles, including ads that market the monsters directly to children.
"A generation ago, cigarette makers flooded our airwaves with ads that made smoking -- which is a direct threat to human health -- seem cool to all of us, including our vulnerable children," said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, one of dozens of groups protesting the Hummers under the banner of Citizens for Vehicle Responsibility. "Appropriately, as a society, we have now protected ourselves and our children from destructive cigarette marketing. But unless we do the same for Hummers, we are hurting our kids' health as much as putting cigarette machines in all of our schools."
As part of the "National Protest Day Against Hummers," activists will spend hours this Saturday, November 15th, demonstrating against Hummer dealerships with chants, banners, and placards in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and ten other cities.
In addition to the advertising ban, protestors are calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin crash-test studies of Hummers, which presently are not required. And activists are demanding that Congress close the outrageous tax loophole that allows U.S. businesses to deduct up to $100,000-worth of the cost of Hummers and other large SUVs from their federal taxes. This unconscionable tax deduction forces all Americans to subsidize the environmental and health impacts of these behemoths.
The national Hummer protest will be launched with a press conference at Greenbelt Capitol Hummer dealership (6500 Capitol Drive) in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Greenbelt, Md. on Friday, November 14th at 11:00 a.m. Speakers include representatives from health, environmental, faith, and children's advocacy groups.
For more information or to contact protestors in your area, call the Chesapeake Climate Action Network at 301-920-1644 or email ccan@chesapeakeclimate.org.
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