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SALT LAKE CITY — An atheist group trying to advertise their convention is reportedly getting the cold shoulder.

American Atheists are bringing their convention to Salt Lake City over Easter weekend next year. One of the reasons why they chose to come to Salt Lake is to connect with people here who no longer consider themselves religious.

"There is this entire community of atheists out here who are ready to be here for them," said Dave Muscato, AA public relations director.

However, Muscato said their proposals for billboards were not well-received by advertising companies. He said they contacted several ad companies and were ignored by most of them.

One design showed a group of students with the caption, "Utah's students. All religious? Think again. Atheists."

"It doesn't make sense to me that people are that concerned about what I consider an extremely benign billboard," Muscato said.

But another AA idea was reminiscent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's "I'm a Mormon" campaign. This ad would show a portrait of a person with the words "I'm a Mormon" crossed out. It would also cross out the word "ex-Mormon" and replace it with "Atheist."

Muscato said their intention wasn't to denigrate the LDS faith or religious people in general, but to get people who are no longer religious to feel more comfortable identifying themselves as atheists.

It doesn't make sense to me that people are that concerned about what I consider an extremely benign billboard. –Dave Muscato, AA PR director

When asked if he would feel offended at seeing a billboard with the word "Atheist" crossed out and replaced with "Believer," he said wouldn't find it offensive.

Still, Muscato said YESCO, the only company who would entertain the design, asked the group to change their proposal.

"They have policy of not running ads that denigrate a specific group and that if we got rid of the word ‘Mormon' that they would reconsider it," Muscato said.

Muscato said YESCO eventually passed on their billboard requests, but they were able to find a company based out of Denver that has boards in the Salt Lake area. They will reportedly have their advertisements up in December.

YESCO issued a statement to KSL saying, "We believe that our medium is an effective outlet for free speech, however we balance that with a strong commitment to adhere to community standards and to ensure that the messages we advertise are not offensive towards any business, group or individual. We carefully evaluate all requests for advertising placement on a case-by-case basis and make the best decision for our clients, our company and the communities in which we operate. In rare instances, we reject advertisements that we find to be misleading, deceptive or offensive to the moral standards of the community."

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