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Television networks, which like to hear numbers like that, nevertheless give a collective corporate shudder at the slightest hint of advocacy. "ABC's responsibility is to the film itself," says Stoddard. "How it is perceived or used by other people is beyond our control." That may be, but the freeze supporters have made a strong head start. Leaked copies of The Day After are being shown at antinuke fund raisers, while the opposition has been effectively shut out. "This film has been used to generate interest and support, including financial support, for our efforts," Michaud admits.
Paul Dietrich, president of the conservative National Center for Legislative Research, wangled himself an invitation to a private showing and calls the film "anything but non-partisan." Says John Fisher, president of the American Security Council: "Clearly someone associated with the production has a significantly different perspective than we do, because somehow the pirated version hasn't been exposed to people on our side of the issue. This movie says deterrence has failed, and that's a political statement."
Having made the film their own, freeze advocates are now using it, in the words of Disarmament Activist Josh Baran, "to educate people. It is the best use of television I can think of." Last April, Baran helped start an ad hoc organization called The Day Before, which will work with 17 national antinuclear groups to set up seminars in more than 100 cities around the country for two days following the film's air date. Ground Zero will mail out 100,000 viewing guides. The Center for Defense Information is considering producing a 60-sec. commercial, narrated by Paul Newman, offering "a nuclear war-prevention kit." "I plan to send in for one of those kits," writes Conservative Columnist William F. Buckley Jr., "and if Mr. Newman doesn't send me an MX missile, I'm going to report him to the Postal Service people for fraud."
All this heat and dust have made advertisers, already shy of buying time on such a dubiously commercial program as The Day After, almost paralyzed with reluctance. By some accounts, the network has lined up four or five sponsors; by others, it has sold only half the 25 available 30-sec. commercial spots. "I couldn't confirm half, but I know it's a good portion," comments Jeff Tolvin, ABC's director of business information, with gingerly care. The network is charging a hefty $135,000 a spot—a price that could dip as show time approaches and empty air time looms—but the problem, according to Madison Avenue, is not monetary. "It may be one of the most devastating pieces of film I've ever seen, TV or otherwise, but it is artistically unsuit able to most of our clients," says Joel Segal, senior vice president of broad casting for Ted Bates Advertising. "It isn't the issue of controversy; it's more a matter of the commercials' conflicting grossly with the content of the program." Asks another agency executive: "Do you want singing and dancing and music in that kind of program environment?"