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New TV Spot Featuring Phoenix Suns’ Grant Hill and Jared Dudley Premiered Sunday to 11 Million Viewers

A record number of NBA fans watched a public service advertisement (PSA) featuring Phoenix Suns stars Grant Hill and Jared Dudley on Sunday, when Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was the most viewed NBA game in cable history. The PSA is a joint venture between GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the Ad Council and the National Basketball Association (NBA) to support the Think Before You Speak campaign to address the use of anti-gay language among teens.

A total of 11,109,000 viewers tuned in to watch the game, surpassing the previous high set in 2009 by more than a million viewers.

“GLSEN is proud to be a part of history and particularly excited that the Think Before You Speak campaign’s message of respect was introduced to more people than had ever watched an NBA game on cable,” said Eliza Byard, GLSEN Executive Director. “While we know an incredible amount of work remains to address the use of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender language among teens, we’ve already seen the tremendous impact our partnership with the NBA will have.”

The Ad Council is distributing the PSA to more than 1,600 TV stations nationwide and the ad will air in donated time.  The NBA has committed to support the TV ad across their broadcast partners—ABC, ESPN, and TNT— as well as on NBA TV and NBA.com.  The league will also support the campaign through their social media assets where they connect with more than 11 million fans.

"We teamed up with GLSEN for their Think Before You Speak campaign to engage NBA fans in a crucial dialogue about respect," said Kathy Behrens, NBA Executive Vice President of Social Responsibility & Player Programs. "We're so proud our teams and players delivered for the spot's premiere, when our historic night could add to GLSEN's proven track record of driving change on the issue of anti-LGBT language and behavior among youth."

Nearly nine in LGBT teens report having been verbally harassed in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed based on their sexual orientation, according to GLSEN’s 2009 National School Climate Survey. Homophobic remarks such as “that’s so gay” are the most commonly heard type of biased remarks at school, and nine in ten LGBT teens say they’ve heard “gay” used in negative way frequently or often. 

“While our partnership with GLSEN on Think Before You Speak has been remarkably successful in terms of raising awareness and influencing attitudes and behaviors, there are still far too many teens that do not realize the serious impact of their words,” said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council. “With NBA players that teens look up to delivering the message to record audiences, we will be able to break through and help teens understand that the casual use of this language carries over into more overt harassment and bullying.”