Bermuda's broadcasting companies have pulled the plug on an advertisement which they believe could have sparked panic on the Island.

The decision was made after former Bermuda Broadcasting Company sports reporter Darren (Butch) Burchall used a hurricane theme to promote this weekend's Brammy Awards for local musicians.

Mr. Burchall, who six years ago created the awards to highlight the achievements of local entertainers, has been promoting this year's awards ceremony for the past few weeks.

The commercial has been airing on BBC's Power 95 FM radio station.

But days before the awards, which will be held tomorrow, Mr. Burchall decided to enhance the commercial with a hurricane theme to get the attention of those who, he said, were uncertain about attending the event.

The commercial, which began with a disclaimer stating that it was a special Brammy update, stated: "Forecasters at the National Hurricane Centre in Miami are tracking a vicious hurricane which is in direct collision for the Bermuda area, packing maximum sustained winds of 2,000 miles per hour.'' "Forecasters say Hurricane Brammy is going to knock your socks off,'' it continued. "If all the entertainment is not enough, three typhoons are accompanying Hurricane Brammy, D.J. Younguls, Craig (Bubbles) Darrell, and Malcolm (Lethal Weapon) Smith will blow you away at the after party.

"This is a warning from the Country Cartel. In all this bad weather save the children, protect the elderly.'' But BBC refused to run the commercial.

Mr. Burchall said he was told that the commercial, using his voice, could not run because he was a former broadcaster and the public might confuse the commercial with a news broadcast.

Therefore, he said, he offered to have the engineer's voice in the commercial.

But it was still rejected by BBC.

Mr. Burchall said he took a 30-second version of the commercial to BBC's competitor, VSB. But after selling some $200 worth of airspace to him, VSB also decided not to run the commercial.

Telecommunications director Ted Pitman explained that VSB decided against running the commercial after it sought the advice of the Broadcasting Commission as to whether the commercial was reasonable to be aired.

"The commission decided that it was not,'' Mr. Pitman said. "The commercial could potentially cause confusion because it pertains to a hurricane. If you listen to the commercial in its entirety, you will know it is a commercial.

But if you only hear part of it, it could cause confusion.'' However, Mr. Burchall said he viewed the broadcasting companies' censorship as an attempt to "suppress'' his creativity.

Describing the commercial as "creative'' and "marketing at its best'', he explained that he used the hurricane theme to get the attention of those who might not have paid attention to the other Brammy Award advertisement.

"I wanted to grip people's attention,'' Mr. Burchall said. "When I took marketing in college, they said be sure to grip the people's attention with the unusual.'' He recalled that he promoted the Brammy Awards two years ago by running Brammy news updates, using music from ZBM's news introduction and two former ZBM reporters.

He also noted that BBC ran the original commercial for the Brammy Awards this year which mentioned a fine arts "explosion''. And he said the station had aired commercials for other companies and products which grabbed listeners' attention.

But when contacted yesterday, BBC marketing manager Janet Wakefield said the station decided to pull Mr. Burchall's commercial because they did not believe it was wise to run such a commercial in the height of the hurricane season.

"Twenty six seconds of it was like an imitation of a news bulletin,'' Ms Wakefield said. "We felt that even if we put a disclaimer in front of that and people did not hear it, it would cause confusion because Mr. Burchall was an anchorperson here.

"It was not worth the money to cause a panic. Being in hurricane season, we felt it was too close for comfort.'' But Mr. Burchall said he believed the decision not to run his most recent commercial was "personal''.

"Because the name of my company is the Country Cartel, they are uncomfortable with that,'' he said. "But it's alright. I know how to turn lemon into lemonade. I'm going to take the commercial and the incident and include it in a skit during the Awards.'' The Awards will be held at The New Clayhouse Inn tomorrow night.

AWARDS AWD