In terms of sponsors for his FOX News Channel program, it appears that Glenn Beck went a rant too far.
NEW YORK -- Glenn Beck returns to Fox News Channel after a vacation on Monday with fewer companies willing to advertise on his show than when he left, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist.
A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That's more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.
While it's unclear what effect, if any, this will ultimately have on Fox and Beck, it is already making advertisers skittish about hawking their wares within the most opinionated cable TV shows.
The Clorox Co., a former Beck advertiser, now says that "we do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts." The maker of bleach and household cleaners said in a statement that is has decided not to advertise on political talk shows.
The shows present a dilemma for advertisers, who usually like a "safe" environment for their messages. The Olbermanns, Hannitys, O'Reillys, Maddows and Becks of the TV world are more likely to say something that will anger a viewer, who might take it out on sponsors.
I don't watch Glenn Beck. Even if I did, I don't watch commercials. I hit mute or momentarily switch channels.
So, I have no interest in carrying water for Beck or defending his comments.
However, I do think that other talkers should be held to the same standards as Beck.
If 33 sponsors have dropped Beck, then sponsors should also steer clear of Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow.
Matthews called Americans who disagree with Obama's government takeover of health care racists.
If Beck loses advertisers for calling Obama a racist, then surely Matthews should have no sponsors after applying the same label to countless Americans.
Let's add Bill Maher to the target list. Some of the stuff he says is shockingly offensive. Jay Leno is currently off the air, but he provided a platform for Maher to absolutely trash Catholics and Pope Benedict. Add him to the list.
And David Letterman. He's always saying terribly offensive things.
And Saturday Night Live. All sponsors should definitely drop SNL.
I think it's fair for viewers to let sponsors know that they will not purchase their products or services since they are helping to keep objectionable content on the air. That's the consumer's prerogative. I think it's a perfectly legitimate response.
On the flip side, it's fair for viewers to contact sponsors and express their concern about them dropping ads from a program.
All's fair in the pressuring advertisers game.
If a target is on Beck's back, there should also be targets on so many others.
I do think sponsors shouldn't be too quick to pull ads. That could get quite messy, leaving them with nowhere to go.
If sponsors abandon Beck and want to avoid being hypocritical, they'll have to abandon other shows.
It's dominoes.
3 comments:
Yes, that would be only fair, but no, it will not happen. I too pay no attention to the commercials on any program. I do watch Beck and will continue. I will also continue to state my opinion on how socialism is taking hold of our country, and as of yet, do not need a sponsor to do so.
It looks like this is going to impact the likes of MSNBC far more harshly than FOX! Gotta love it!
From: http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/beck_boycott_fox_backlash/2009/08/23/251369.html?s=al&promo_code=85E5-1
"Many of the companies the organization lists now deny they have anything to do with the boycott... Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, SC Johnson, and Radio Shack, all of which said they have not directed Fox News to pull their ads from the Glenn Beck Program, as Color of Change has stated.
In fact, these companies’ representatives tell Newsmax that, as a matter of corporate policy, they never did advertise on the Glenn Beck Program and ask how they could boycott a program they never placed an ad on in the first place.
Another company, State Farm, tells Newsmax that its ad was never supposed to air on the Glenn Beck Program. State Farm has a longstanding company policy against advertising on any "political or opinion programming," its spokesman says.
Having discovered the error, State Farm says, it will not be advertising on any cable talk show. And it is careful to emphasize it is not singling out Beck in this regard.
As State Farm’s response suggests, the net effect of the anti-Beck crusade probably will be fewer advertisers willing to advertise on the talk shows of any cable network.
Consider, for example, the corporate response from Clorox. On Thursday, company executives wrote Hill stating: “After a comprehensive review of political talk shows across the spectrum, at this time we have made a decision not to advertise on political talk shows.”
Assuming the pro-Beck backlash continues, that probably means the activist campaign intended to hurt Beck will, ironically, damage Beck’s progressive competitors more than it hurts him.
Lost ads will impact smaller networks such as MSNBC far more than it will affect ratings juggernaut Fox News, industry sources say.
Nearly 2.5 million viewers tuned in to Beck’s show in its 5 p.m. Eastern time slot last week, according to Mediabistro’s TV Newser. Beck’s ratings on Fox exceeded those of CNN, MSNBC, and Headline News combined."
Way to go Color of Change!
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