TV ADS SAY S.U.V. OWNERS SUPPORT TERRORISTS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - Ratcheting up the debate over sport utility vehicles,
new television commercials suggest that people who buy the vehicles are
supporting terrorists. The commercials are so provocative that some
television stations are refusing to run them.

Patterned after the commercials that try to discourage drug use by
suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go to terrorists, the new
commercials say that money for gas needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists.

"This is George," a girl's voice says of an oblivious man at a gas station.
"This is the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The screen then shows a
map of the Middle East. "These are the countries where the executives
bought the oil that made the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The
picture switches to a scene of armed terrorists in a desert. "And these are
the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills
up his S.U.V."

A second commercial depicts a series of ordinary Americans saying things
like: "I helped hijack an airplane"; "I gave money to a terrorist training
camp in a foreign country"; "What if I need to go off-road?"

At the close, the screen is filled with the words: "What is your S.U.V.
doing to our national security?"

The two 30-second commercials are the brainchild of the author and
columnist Arianna Huffington. Her target audience, she said, is Detroit and
Congress, especially the Republicans and Democrats who last year voted
against a bill, sponsored by Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona,
and John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, that would have raised
fuel-efficiency standards.

Spokesmen for the automakers dismissed the commercials.

Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers,
said of Ms. Huffington, "Her opinion is out-voted every year by Americans
who buy S.U.V.'s for their safety, comfort and versatility." He said that
S.U.V.'s now account for 21 percent of the market.

In an interview, Senator Kerry distanced himself from the commercials. He
said that rather than oppose S.U.V.'s outright, he believed they should be
more efficient.

"I haven't seen these commercials," he said, "but anybody can drive as
large an S.U.V. as they want, though it can be more efficient than it is
today."

Ms. Huffington's group, which calls itself the Detroit Project, has bought
almost $200,000 of air time for the commercials, to run from Sunday to
Thursday. While the group may lose some viewers if stations refuse to run
the advertisements, the message is attracting attention through news coverage.

The advertisements are to be broadcast on "Meet The Press," "Face the
Nation" and "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" in Detroit, Los Angeles,
New York and Washington.

But some local affiliates say they will not run them. At the ABC affiliate
in New York, Art Moore, director of programming, said, "There were a lot of
statements being made that were not backed up, and they're talking about
hot-button issues."

Ms. Huffington said she got the idea for the commercials while watching the
antidrug commercials, sponsored by the Bush administration. In her
syndicated column, she asked readers if they would be willing to pay for "a
people's ad campaign to jolt our leaders into reality."

She said she received 5,000 e-mail messages and eventually raised $50,000
from the public. Bigger contributors included Steve Bing, the film
producer; Larry David, the comedian and "Seinfeld" co-creator; and Norman
Lear, the television producer.