Tom Peterson, founder and president of VirtueMedia, had just finished making a presentation at St. Anne’s Church in Gilbert, Ariz., when a young grandmother approached and joyfully introduced him to her 3-month-old granddaughter, Ashlynn.

“My daughter was considering aborting her, but when she saw your VirtueMedia commercial on TV, God used it to change her mind,” said the woman. “Ashlynn is alive today because of a VirtueMedia commercial.”

“I just teared up,” recalls Peterson. “I couldn’t believe it. I had heard that hundreds and thousands of babies were being saved, but to meet one from my own parish really struck home.”

Other babies like Ashlynn are indeed being saved today through an array of pro-life TV and radio commercials produced by VirtueMedia. Speaking from their new headquarters in Roswell, Ga., Peterson gave an example of just how effective even brief spots can be.

A January campaign in Atlanta generated 2,646 phone calls from abortion-vulnerable women wanting help.

 “The pregnancy counselors who handle our phone calls estimate one of every three women who calls in for help turns into a baby’s life saved,” says Peterson. “That means as many as 900 babies were saved in one month just in Atlanta.”

“God is using VirtueMedia to deliver positive, life-affirming messages of compassion, love and hope through the very channel that the evil one uses to negatively influence us and our children,” says Peterson.

“When we were running VirtueMedia’s radio ads,” says Sheila Riely, director of Life Choices’ Women’s Clinic in Phoenix, “you literally could still hear the radio ads running in the background when women were calling on their cell phones.”

The effectiveness of VirtueMedia ads hasn’t gone unnoticed in the wider world.

“Tom has this gift for creating compassionate pro-life messages that really touch peoples’ hearts and obviously have been really effective,” says Legionary Father Jason Brooks, who celebrates a monthly Mass at a crisis-pregnancy center in Chicago.

Reaching people through commercials is nothing new for Peterson. He had a successful career as a Phoenix advertising executive with a young, growing family, but knew something was missing in life. It was at a men’s retreat that he felt the Holy Spirit speak to his heart: “Downsize and simplify”.

He slowed his fast corporate pace, began attending morning Mass and reading Scripture, and taking a serious shot at living a holy life. He realized that God wanted him to direct his talents and career experience to pro-life work and evangelism.

Soon after, in 1998, he founded VirtueMedia, a non-profit organization endorsed by, among others, Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Judie Brown of the American Life League and Vatican Archbishop John Foley.

VirtueMedia takes a multi-pronged approach to reaching minds and changing hearts.

“First and foremost is to design ads that invited abortion vulnerable young women to call for help,” says Peterson. “They needed to know they had a positive alternative to running down to Planned Parenthood or other abortion clinics.”

“Second, we’ve always been led by the Holy Spirit to offer compassion, hope and forgiveness to those post-abortion women and men who suffer in silence.”

VirtueMedia partners with the Silent No More, Rachael’s Vineyard and Priests for Life in offering post-abortion healing.

To those ends, Peterson has developed attitude-changing commercials that teach people in a compassionate and loving ways about the sanctity of human life at all phases and stages.

Two commercials reach out to tell the countless girls considering abortion to offer their children for adoption. Others gently wake people to the real effects of abortion on their lives and world.

A spot called “Vanished” is one of the most profound ones for young people to see, according to Father Fred Adamson, vicar general of the Diocese of Phoenix. “One image shows a wedding couple walking down the aisle and the bride vanishes,” notes the priest. “For them to see that someone in their lives is missing because of an abortion, speaks to young people.”

Ads Work

Peterson likens VirtueMedia commercials to life preservers being tossed to those most in need, right where they live. That means buying time on dissolute networks and inside immoral programs. Asked for examples, he lists the MTV and BET networks, along with HBO’s “Sex in the City” and ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.”

“Jesus told us in Scripture that he did not come for the well,” says Peterson in defense of his media-buying decisions. “He came for the sick.”

VirtueMedia tested abstinence messages on BET and MTV nationally to see what effect it had. Peterson found it generated 24,000 web visits from youth wanting information on abstinence. “That far exceeded our wildest expectations,” he says.

Peterson knows how to pinpoint audiences and place ads where they’ll do the most good. Internationally, for example, VirtueMedia works with Vida Humana Internacional, a division of Human Life International, and EWTN, to help educate people in Latin American countries.

Domestically, some VirtueMedia commercials are specifically designed to reach urban African-Americans and Hispanics — target clientele for many abortionists. One commercial features Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King.

While VirtueMedia tries to reach the top 25 largest and most abortion-vulnerable cities — Washington D.C., New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles — it also airs commercials in cities that might not have the biggest abortion problems but that generally have the most robust response. The idea is to ensure that every dollar is spent most efficiently. Hence the ads’ presence in Birmingham, Ala., Phoenix, Dayton, Ohio, Indianapolis and Charleston, S.C.

The vast majority of funding comes from rank-and-file Catholics. Peterson says many donors are “little rosary ladies” and other men and women of prayer. There are also a few family foundations that give matching funds.

“These moving ads can help shape the conscience of the culture,” says Father Brooks. “This is an effective means of combating the culture of death and promoting the culture of life.”

Joseph Pronechen writes from
Trumbull, Connecticut.

Information

VirtueMedia

virtuemedia.org

(877) 7-VIRTUE

(1-877-784-7883)