Extramarital Affair Ad Gets Axed

Aug. 4, 2008 — -- ESPN is yanking a commercial for an infidelity matchmaking service.

Amy Phillips, a spokeswoman for ESPN -- which is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News -- said that the sports channel has asked its local affiliates to stop running an ad for AshleyMadison.com, a Web site that connects would-be cheaters with potential mates.

Phillips would not say why the channel decided to pull the ad.

Noel Biderman, the president of AshleyMadison.com, who learned of ESPN's decision from an ABCNews.com reporter, said he felt that "a double standard" had been applied to his company with respect to advertising.

He said ESPN is "inundated" with advertisements for alcohol, a product "responsible for health issues and ultimately death."

"Somehow I'm immoral and everything else is OK," he said.

AshleyMadison.com boasts a membership of more than 2.2 million. For $49, members can create profiles and send e-mails and instant messages to each other. A slogan on the company's homepage reads "Life is Short. Have an Affair."

The 35-second commercial shows an unhappy-looking man lying in bed alongside a snoring woman. As he gets up and leaves the bedroom, a narrator's voice declares, "Most of us can recover from a one-night stand with the wrong woman, but not when it's every night for the rest of our lives. Isn't it time for AshleyMadison.com?"

Biderman said that his company, which was based in Toronto, was spending more than $1 million this summer to run the ad on several television channels, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Fox News Channel and Spike.

But some of the networks on Friday distanced themselves from the ad.

A spokesman for Spike said he wasn't sure if the network had ever run an ad for AshleyMadison.com but added that "if it did run, it would never run again." Representatives for both the Fox network and Fox News also said that the channels would never air the ad.

Robert Marich, the business editor at the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable, said that just because a national network has disavowed an ad, it doesn't mean its local affiliates or cable providers that carry their programs have done the same.