Opinion ID: 4580227
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Political or political campaign advertising.

Text: 2. Advertising promoting the sale of alcohol or tobacco. 3. Advertising that is false, misleading, or deceptive. 4. Advertising that is clearly defamatory or likely to hold up to scorn or ridicule any person or group of persons. 5. Advertising that is obscene or pornographic; or in advocacy of imminent lawlessness or unlawful violent action. Contract, R.57-2, PageID#1011. The contract requires CBS to obtain SMART’s preapproval before displaying any ad that might violate these restrictions. When a potential advertiser seeks to place an ad, it speaks with CBS about the logistics, including the pricing, timing, and available space. If CBS believes that the ad might violate the Advertising Guidelines, it alerts SMART. Beth Gibbons, a SMART marketing manager, No. 19-1311 Am. Freedom Defense v. Suburban Mobility Auth. Page 4 oversees the advertising program and receives these notices. Gibbons bears the initial responsibility to decide if a proposed ad violates an Advertising Guideline because, for example, it is “political.” Although she may reject an ad on her own, she regularly seeks input from others at SMART, including its lawyers and ultimately its general manager. Since 2008, SMART has placed hundreds of ads on its buses. The ads have not been purely commercial. SMART has allowed many issue-oriented ads. It permits “get out the vote drives” encouraging individuals to vote. It has run an ad picturing a county sheriff and prosecutor that asks individuals to report drunk drivers. And it has run public-health ads. Some approved ads have discouraged smoking with provocative pictures of a smoker who has had a tracheostomy. Others have advertised free birth control and family planning. Still others have encouraged HIV testing. A “status sexy” ad campaign, for example, identified “statussexy.com” as an address to find testing sites, displayed shirtless men in seductive poses, and stated things like “Knowing your HIV status shows confidence. That’s always Sexy.” SMART has also allowed religious ads. It has approved an ad promoting services at a local church. And it has approved an ad by the Detroit Area Coalition of Reason asking “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”: Members of the public and bus drivers complained about this atheist ad. Two buses displaying it were also vandalized (the “Don’t” was scratched out). In response, SMART amended its website to state that “First Amendment free speech rights require that SMART not censor free speech and because of that, SMART is required to provide equal access to advertising on our vehicles.” The website continued: “Advertising posted on SMART property does not always reflect the views or opinions of SMART, its employees or riders.” No. 19-1311 Am. Freedom Defense v. Suburban Mobility Auth. Page 5 Of the hundreds of ads that SMART has been asked to display, it has rejected four under its Advertising Guidelines. The first concerned abortion. Pinckney Pro-Life sought to place an ad that asked “Hurting after Abortion?”, displayed a picture of Jesus, identified a number to call for “Confidential Help,” and listed two websites: SMART deemed this ad “political” because the websites contained “pro-life information” advocating against abortion. SMART also rejected an ad for a video game, “Red Dead Redemption,” on a different ground. A character in the ad pointed a gun at onlookers, and SMART found that the ad violated its restriction prohibiting advocacy of unlawful violent action. SMART later approved the video-game ad without the gun.