WZON pulls ad due to complaint from McDonald's

["Dan Billings" <billings@suscom-maine.net>]

WCSH/WLBZ today did a story on WZON pulling ads for a local fast-food
restaurant because of complaints from McDonald's, who also advertise on the
station. The ads apparently made reference to pre-packaged food by other
fast-food restaurants.  The story did not make it clear whether the ad
actually mentioned McDonald's by name, but the point of contention seemed to
be the claim about pre-packaged food with McDonald's saying that their food
is not pre-packaged.  The focus of the story was the little local business
being picked on by the big chain and included comments from the owner about
how he was surprised that a radio station that depended on the First
Amendment would not stand up fro freedom of speech.

The story did not contain enough detail for me to make any conclusion about
WZON's actions here.  Though if the ad did actually violate WZON's standards
it should not have ever aired.  Pulling the ad after complaints from another
advertiser does make you wonder.

But I do think it is interesting that it was locally owned WZON getting
criticized for siding with the big chain here, not the one of the corporate
stations in the Bangor market.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine