Thread: Mayor decries Spanish billboard

Originally Posted by Tom2

I just posted this on another blog: "MacDonald's not only is loaded with illegal alien employees but they're targeting them for sales too. While I applaud selling greaseburgers and greasefries to illegals, I found this billboard offensive. It's clearly MacDonald's right to put up the sign but it's also our right to object. A boycott is out of the question because most clear thinking conservatives gave up MacDonalds years ago."

As an afterthought, the primary reason I steered my family away from this awful place is concern for their health. We're seeing many nasty diseases spread by food preparers and handlers, particularly Hepatitis A. Vaccinations against Hepatitis A now are required within 50 miles of the border and recommended for everyone.

The Mexican population is showing a great amount of diabetes above the rest of the population. The local government here spent about a million bucks for a health equity center to address this. It's our fault I guess under this government. We'll have to foot the bills for the greasy burgers.

You'll find that your family will have much less digestive distress when dumping all restaurants and minimizing the meat products in meals. Wash vegetables really well too!

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/bas ... nnj&coll=1

Spanish McDonald's ad prompts talk of a boycott
Bergen town's mayor calls billboard 'divisive'
Saturday, July 08, 2006
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff
The mayor of a small Bergen County town is calling for a McDonald's boycott if the fast-food chain does not take down a Spanish-language billboard advertising iced coffee.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said the advertisement is "offensive" and "divisive" because it sends a message that Hispanic im migrants do not need to learn English.

"The true things that bind us together as neighbors and community is our belief in the American flag and our common language," Lonegan said. "And when McDonald's sends a different message, that we're going to be different now, that causes resentment."

Representatives for McDonald's and CBS Outdoor in New York, the company that owns the billboard on River Road in Bogota, defended the advertisement yesterday.

"McDonald's has the right to advertise to their customers in an appropriate and tasteful manner," said Jodi Senese, executive vice president for marketing for CBS Outdoor. "The billboard is directed to the Hispanic residents of Bogota who make up 20 percent of that town's population. Advertisers recognize the diverse makeup of our nation and often reach out to different populations with messages that are relevant through images and or language."

The sign is one of several Spanish-language billboards in Northern New Jersey promoting McDonald's new iced coffee drink. According to Senese, similar advertisements were posted Monday in three other towns with large Spanish-speaking populations -- Irvington, West New York and East Orange.

The text of the advertisement in Bogota reads "Un frente helado se aproxima. Nuevo café helado," which means "A cold front is coming. A new iced coffee."

In a statement released yesterday, Jennifer Nagy, a marketing manager of McDonald's NY Metro Region, stood by the advertise ment.

"Our customers are at the heart of every decision we make, and we would never do anything to intentionally offend anyone," Nagy said. "When it comes to determining where we advertise, we have an ob ligation to our customers, employees, franchisees, and shareholders to reach our customers as effectively as possible."

Lonegan was dismissive of the statement yesterday.

"I think that their boilerplate press release is totally meaningless," Lonegan said. "It shows their utter disregard for this community."

Lonegan said he called the billboard company earlier this week and asked that the advertisement be taken down after several residents called him to complain that it was in Spanish.

"We are a very ethnically diverse community and we're proud of that," said Lonegan, the grandson of Italian immigrants. "But I happen to think the billboard is divisive. I think there's resentment from some parts of the community.

"If they don't want to take that billboard down," Lonegan added, "I don't want to buy their products and maybe other Americans like me should share that thought. We should boycott McDonald's."

Bogota councilman George Shalhoub said he agreed with the mayor. He said the sign "belittles" Latinos.

"Something like this doesn't really help the Latino community," said Shalhoub, the son of Lebanese immigrants. "If they're going to assimilate they need to utilize the language of the country they're in. That billboard helps no one but McDonald's to sell coffee and hamburgers."

Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, an umbrella group of 250 Hispanic organizations, said there is an "anti-Latino" sentiment behind the opposition to the adver tisement.

"If the mayor is concerned about the diet of Latinos, I would understand, but that was not the intention," Perez said. "I think that the intention is that they don't want to recognize the fact that we live in a diverse state."

Deborah Jacobs, executive di rector of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said McDonald's has a first amendment right to advertise in Spanish.

"Most Americans understand there are a lot of languages spoken in this country. Advertisers have every right to communicate with customers in other languages if they choose to do so."

It appears the media is going after the mayor. Here's a sample of some of the attack articles.


http://www.bergen.com

This sign is no threat to Bogota values
Tuesday, July 11, 2006

By JEFFREY PAGE


THE IRONY would have been terrific if Bogota (bo-GO-ta) in Bergen County had been named for Bogota (bo-go-TA) in Colombia and the mayor of bo-GO-ta was demanding that a Spanish-language billboard be taken down because, he says, it sends the wrong message.

Alas, the borough was named for no Colombian city at all, but for the Bogart family, who were among the earliest settlers.

At issue is the McDonald's billboard down at River Road and Elm Avenue. It pitches the burger place's iced coffee.

"Un frente helado se aproxima," it says. And in those five words -- "A cold front is coming" -- Spanish-speaking people read relief on a brutally hot Jersey day. People who speak no Spanish see a picture of a large container filled with ice and coffee and get the same message. It's called advertising, whose purpose is to interest people in a product they might wish to buy and, if they enjoy it, buy it many times over.

What's the big deal? Is there something dangerous about helping people who don't speak English to find a place to get a cup of iced coffee? The young ones will learn English at school and in the streets, but older arrivals can find learning a new language impossible. Did you ever try it?

When my grandfather, Abraham Shubinsky, arrived in New York in 1911 at the age of 43, he spoke only Yiddish. He struggled with English the rest of his long life and even decades after he landed at Ellis Island he was hard to understand. He would have benefited with information in Yiddish, but such help wasn't offered in his day. Still, he became a pretty terrific American who never took this place for granted.

'Targeting illegals'

Mayor Steve Lonegan sees the McDonald's sign as part of a plot to divide Bogota, a town, he says, with a proud history of assimilation. "We're being targeted," he says. "But I also think they're targeting illegals here." In various interviews, Lonegan has said he objects to the McDonald's sign for several reasons; because it depicts Bogota as a town with tons of illegal immigrants and because the sign serves as a message to people who speak only Spanish that they don't really need to learn English because Spanish signs are available to them.

But that's not exactly the case.

If evildoers are conspiring to plaster little Bogota with signs in Spanish and French, Swahili or Urdu, they forgot to place an order with the billboard company. A ride through town revealed just the one McDonald's sign, which, curiously enough, is next to an almost identical billboard -- in English -- for iced coffee at Quick Chek, and there's a Quick Chek store one block away.

Lonegan rails about the McDonald's sign, but he's noticeably silent about other signs in Bogota that could be construed as conspiratorially un-English.

On West Main Street, for example, just a couple of blocks from Borough Hall, is a restaurant called El Fogón Mexicano. If Lonegan or anyone else has complained about the fact that the owners of this little cafe chose not to name it The Mexican Barbecue, they've yet to go public.

Just across the street is La Famiglia Ristorante -- the family restaurant. Forgetting for a moment that this is an easy one and that just about everyone can figure out what those Italian words mean, there's been no official noise about them from Borough Hall.

Selective criticism

Maybe the most startling bit of selective condemnation of foreign languages in public places is at the intersection of West Main Street and Larch Avenue where an official looking sign informs you -- in Korean and English -- that you need to make a left turn to get to the First Evangelical Church of New Jersey. This Korean congregation meets in the venerable Bogart Memorial Reformed Church. On the church lawn is a sign in Korean advising people that if they were looking for First Evangelical, they've found it.

There's a third congregation at Bogart Memorial. It is Iglesia Evangelica de Todas las Almas -- All Souls Evangelical Church. All the information worshipers need, such as time of services and the minister's name and phone number, is on a sign on the lawn, and the sign is all in Spanish.

It may be in Spanish in a mostly English-speaking area, but its message isn't exclusionary.

"Todos son bienvenidos," it says. All are welcome.

Record Columnist Jeffrey Page also writes the North Jersey column.





http://www.northjersey.com

Land of the free and the Lonegan
Monday, July 10, 2006

By ALFRED P. DOBLIN


The frightening thought is that Steve Lonegan wanted to be governor. The Bogota mayor has never been known for tact, but he has crossed over from extreme conservatism to extreme idiocy. Lonegan wants a billboard removed from his borough. The offensive billboard is not depicting anti-Christian dogma, pro-homosexuality or even Borgata babes. It's a McDonald's ad for iced coffee, and it's in Spanish.

Lonegan wants the billboard taken down because "it's really sending the wrong message." I might be sympathetic to a crusade against caffeine or even trans-fats. But a crusade against a Spanish-language billboard is downright un-American. It's also not very Republican or conservative.

Republicans and conservatives used to spew the gospel of free enterprise -- less government intervention is a good thing. Lonegan is asserting that a Spanish-language ad is telling Hispanics they can't learn English. That's ridiculous. McDonald's has every right to target Spanish-speaking consumers. Subways and buses are splattered with foreign language ads -- and not all in Spanish, either.

The Lonegan argument takes the English-only crusade to its illogical and dangerous conclusion. First, English becomes the national language of the United States. Next, it becomes criminal to speak any other language. What is offensive about a Spanish advertisement for iced coffee? Does it send a signal that there are more Hispanics in Bogota than Lonegan wants? Is there a Spanish-speaking quota in Bogota? If there wasn't a market for the advertisement, McDonald's would not be spending U.S. dollars for a billboard.

There are large Spanish-speaking populations in North Jersey. I can't fathom Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera or Paterson Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres being exercised over any foreign language billboard. Lonegan says it's not the Spanish part that bothers him. If it were in German he would be equally exercised. I'm not sure I believe that, but I will take the good mayor at his English word. It does not matter if it's in Spanish or German; there is no law stating advertisements must be in English.

McDonald's is not in business to help immigrants learn a language. They are in business to sell hamburgers, fries and, now, iced coffee. It is smart business to reach out to as many consumers as possible. If that means an ad campaign in Spanish, Arabic or Russian, what is the big deal? McDonald's is not asking the borough of Bogota to subsidize their billboard advertisements.

Newspaper corporations, including the one that owns the Herald News, have invested in Spanish-language publications. Not because they think Spanish-speaking people cannot or will not learn English, but because there is a large segment of the population that needs information in a language they understand now. Foreign language publications have existed for centuries in the United States. Foreign language ads are not a threat to the United States.

Lonegan should check the Constitution. There is no amendment barring the speaking of Spanish or foreign languages in the United States.

If Lonegan believes it is his civic duty to help non-English-speaking people learn English, he should volunteer as a tutor full time and get out of government. The borough president of Bogota agrees with Lonegan that the billboard should be taken down. Maybe the two of them could open a language school, although I'm not sure how they will advertise their services.

All New Jerseyans should be concerned. Municipal borders are crossed each day. What makes New Jersey a great place to live and work is diversity. It is important that immigrants learn English. It is important that native-born Americans with limited English skills become proficient. But there is a difference between government-run programs and private enterprise. Government has no business dictating what language is used by any private business.

If Lonegan finds the McDonald's advertising campaign offensive, don't patronize McDonald's. But no mayor was elected to patronize the First Amendment. My advice to Lonegan: Switch to descafeinado.

Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of the Herald News. Reach him at doblin@northjersey.com



http://www.bergen.com

No mas, Senor Lonegan
Monday, July 10, 2006
THE RECORD'S EDITORIAL STAFF


IN case you missed it, advertising targeted to various ethnic groups is everywhere.

Numerous advertisers, politicians and government agencies now make their pitch to immigrants in a foreign tongue. Spanish-language advertisements are especially common.

That's what makes Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan's ethnically charged outburst last week so puzzling, and flat-out wrong.

The conservative and outspoken Republican decried a newly posted Spanish-language billboard advertisement for McDonald's in his town, saying it implied that Hispanics don't understand English and can't learn it.

The River Road advertisement promotes iced coffee with the line Un frente helado se aproxima -- "A cold front is coming."

Mr. Lonegan responded with some hot air. He asked the billboard owner to take down the advertisement, with no success. He then secured bipartisan support on the Bogota Borough Council for a resolution asking McDonald's to put an English-language version up instead. No luck there, either.

The mayor says the billboard insults Hispanics by suggesting they can't read advertising in English. He says it sends an erroneous message that Hispanics are different and don't share the community's belief in the American flag and language.

Yet local Hispanics -- who make up one-fifth of the borough population -- didn't call the mayor to complain. Mr. Lonegan says non-Hispanics made those calls, and that's what prompted him to act.

In truth, the mayor's own actions are far more divisive than the billboard. At minimum, he has cast a shadow of bigotry over the borough. Some Hispanics are now bound to wonder whether they are welcome there.

That's hardly constructive amid the current national debate over immigration reform.

Contrast Mr. Lonegan's blow-up to the statements of another mayor, New York City's Michael Bloomberg. He told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week that his city's economy would collapse if the undocumented workforce was deported. He reminded the committee that America is built on the concept of equality for all, and he suggested ways to restrict the flow of undocumented workers into the country.

That's the kind of frank, insightful talk we need from public officials as the nation seeks to rewrite its immigration laws. Prejudicial flame-throwing we can do without.



http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... COLUMNISTS

07/10/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom

Does 'Bogota' belong in N.J.?
It is common these days for a variety of businesses to print advertising messages in Spanish. Those that do so are not making a political statement as much as they are trying to sell dishwashers, cars, or hamburgers. In short, if they think an area has a sizeable amount of people who speak Spanish, advertisements will be in that language.

McDonald's is pushing iced coffee these days and a billboard extolling its virtues is on River Road in Bogota in Bergen County. The billboard is in Spanish.

That doesn't sit well with Mayor Steve Lonegan, who some may remember as a gubernatorial candidate in last year's Republican primary. He wants the billboard taken down. If not, he wants residents to boycott McDonald's.

As a proclaimed conservative, Lonegan should support the right of a private business to sell its product anyway it wants.

And if the mayor is so troubled with the Spanish language, perhaps he should change the name of his town. Bogota, after all, is more associated with Colombia than New Jersey.

I realize this isn't an electin but uhm, aren't they "disenfranchising" all English speaking people?

(edit) What's the word I'm looking for ......

e-mail for Mr Page of the first article.


page@northjersey.com

Originally Posted by Ladydrake

I realize this isn't an electin but uhm, aren't they "disenfranchising" all English speaking people?

(edit) What's the word I'm looking for ......

How about marginalize?

Yep, that works! Thanks!

mayor@bogotaonline.org

Send the mayor a short letter of support!

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=69031

ProEnglish Backs N.J. Mayor, McDonalds Boycott Over Billboards in Spanish

7/11/2006 12:05:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: State Desk

Contact: Phil Kent, 404-226-3549, for ProEnglish

ARLINGTON, Va., July 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "The mayor of the New Jersey town of Bogota is absolutely right to call for a boycott of the McDonald's fast-food chain until it ends its insulting Spanish-language billboard advertising campaign," says K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, an Arlington, Va.,-based national organization that backs official English. "We support Mayor Steve Lonegan and other town council members who label the billboards divisive because they send a message there's no need for Spanish-speaking immigrants to learn English because American corporations will cater to them."

"Americans of all backgrounds overwhelmingly want English to be our official language," McAlpin said, citing a poll by Zogby International commissioned by ProEnglish. "Eighty-five percent of likely voters incorrectly think English is already the official language of the United States. But when told that the U.S. doesn't have an official language, virtually the same number -- 84 percent -- say English should be the official language of government operations."

"Learning English enables immigrants to assimilate into society, where they can find better paying jobs and have the opportunity to realize the American dream," McAlpin said. "McDonald's needs to hear the message that Americans are fed up with this pandering, and that rather than helping immigrants McDonald's actions reveal that they really could care less about immigrants' long term best interests, as long as the company can fatten its bottom line."

"The McDonald's boycott call by Mayor Lonegan is another reason for Congress to pass the English Language Unity Act, H.R. 997, a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, to make English our official language, and which now enjoys the bipartisan co-sponsorship of more than a third of the entire House of Representatives."

The Zogby poll of 1,007 likely voters was conducted March 14 – 16, with the firm employing sampling strategies in which the selection probabilities are proportional to population size within telephone area codes and exchanges. The margin of error is plus/minus 3.2 percent (higher in sub-groups).

http://www.usnewswire.com/

I am astonished at what I am reading on this message board.
Firstly, the ad was placed not because it was appealing to Hispanic that CAN'T speak ENGLISH, but to speak to them more familiarly and build trust with the McDonalds brand. Not every shoe fits every person and in business, everyone/every company emphasizes a certain personal tocu, whether its the "local" store owner who "knows" what the locals like and that why they do business with them or a large corpoartion that speaks in a language other than English (which just became the National language during President Bush's admin, more on that later during).
I am appauled at some of these notes. All Hispanics are not Mexicans and all Mexicans and Hispanics are not Illegal and dont speak English and haven't assimilated.
Have you all forgotten that we are a melting pot of Immigrants? Just because millions of Italians, Irish, Jews, Koreans, etc came to this country by the millions before there was a limit put on immigration, please lets not forget the hardship ajnd ridicule they all suffered back then also at the hands of the English and Dutch.

It is quite obvious that many of the people who have posted here are from little towns like Bogota and have become desensitized to the real world and see America as its own culture and not the blend of cultures, races and languages and opportunity for all, which is what made IMMIGRANTS want to come here 200 yrs ago.
For the idiot who mentioned, "This is what we fought for" referencing the wars that made our country the great country it is, please be reminded that it was the very immigrants that were being "marginalized" that did teh fighting and WON, and they just this current wave of Hispanics in this Century (like the Irish, Italians, ect before them) that will keep fighting for a free way of life across the world and in America and not succumb to narrowmindedness such as the comments on thsi message board.
The Mayor should be fired or resign immediately. His, may be a view of the some of teh shortsighted, small minded people who live in the US but are surely not the view of the values and heritage that helped to build America.