Cross-posted at Jack and Jill Politics, Huffington Post, and Daily Kos.
Big news today. We’ve confirmed that eight more major advertisers have pulled their support from Glenn Beck’s show — Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS, Travelocity, Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank, Broadview Security, and Re-Bath.
Overall, twenty advertisers have now ended their support of Beck. We’re going to keep the pressure on Beck’s remaining advertisers this week, and we’ll let you know how you can help.
From the press release we’re sending right now:
Eight more Glenn Beck advertisers, including Wal-Mart — the world’s largest retailer — have confirmed to ColorOfChange.org that they pulled their ads from the controversial Fox News Channel broadcaster’s eponymous show. Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank (a unit of GMAC Financial Services), Best Buy, Broadview Security, CVS, Re-Bath, Travelocity and Wal-Mart join the dozen other companies who previously distanced themselves from Beck.
Twenty companies have pulled their ads from Beck’s show in just the last two weeks. The moves come after the Fox News host called President Obama a "racist" who "has a deep-seated hatred for white people" during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Previous companies who pulled their ads include ConAgra, GEICO, Lawyers.com, Men’s Wearhouse, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, RadioShack, Roche, SC Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Sargento, and State Farm Insurance.
"We are heartened to see so many corporate citizens step up in support of our campaign against Glenn Beck," said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. "Their action sends a clear a message to Glenn Beck: Broadcasters shouldn’t abuse the privilege they enjoy by spewing dangerous and racially charged hate language over the air. No matter their political affiliation, hate language doesn’t belong in our national dialogue."
"Walmart [sic] today confirmed the retailer pulled ads from the Glenn Beck show on August 3rd," said David Tovar, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.
"While advertising on Fox is part of our communication plan, we had not requested time on Glenn Beck’s show specifically," said Carolyn Castel, Vice President of Corporate Communications for CVS Caremark, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have instructed our advertising agency to inform Fox to ensure Glenn Beck’s program is not part of our advertising plan."
"Our position is simple," Castel continued. "We support vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans, but we expect it to be informed, inclusive and respectful, in keeping with our company’s core values and commitment to diversity."
In an email exchange with ColorOfChange.org, Lisa Svac Hawks, Director of Public Relations for Best Buy, stated that any advertisements for Best Buy that were placed on Glenn Beck’s show were done so in error. Svac Hawks pledged that Best Buy will correct any mistakes made.
"We did not specifically place our ad on the show," said Amanda Borichevsky, a spokesperson for Travelocity in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We buy ads in bulk and then they are placed somewhat randomly. However, we have now specifically asked that our ads do not appear during this show."
"We reviewed our commercial schedule, and based on your feedback, we’ve put any programming featuring Glenn Beck on our "do not air" list," said Aziz Mottiwala, Senior Marketing Manager for Allergan, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "This means that you will no longer see any Restasis ads during programming featuring Glenn Beck. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention."
"Ally advertises on a broad spectrum of programs to reach our potential customers," said a Customer Care Representative for Ally Bank. "Our advertising is not an endorsement of editorial content on any program. We have ceased to advertise on the Glenn Beck program."
In a phone conversation with Dwayne Sigler, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Broadview Security Systems, Sigler told ColorOfChange.org that Broadview’s advertising is bought based on network, not particular programs, but that "given the considerations, we have requested of Fox News not to include us in the rotation that would have our commercials running on Glenn Beck’s show."
"…We are no longer airing our commercials on the Glenn Beck Show…" said Mary Beth Mayer, spokesperson for Re-Bath, in a phone message to ColorOfChange.org.
As the list of advertisers who don’t want themselves associated with Beck continues to grow, our campaign is also getting major media attention, which helps send a strong message to Fox and to Beck’s remaining advertisers. Last week, our campaign was mentioned in several media and advertising industry publications, on MSNBC, in the New York Times, and by Stephen Colbert.
Thanks to everyone who has stepped up and joined this campaign (there are more than 145,000 of you now) — this wouldn’t be possible without your voice. What we’ve achieved so far is incredible — it’s rare for a campaign directed at a TV show’s advertisers to be this successful.
But we won’t stop here. We’re going to continue reaching out to Beck’s remaining advertisers, and we’ll keep you informed on how you can help us escalate the pressure.





9 Comments
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About The Seminal
Advanced search
Sensation, outstanding, groundbreaking work.
This is how Spocko told us to hurt the haters: connect their views to their advertisers.
Kudos to Color of Change, I’m proud to be part of this with you.
where’s my handkerchief…
Thanks to Color of Change for their continued attention to this matter. Glenn Beck is contributing to the breakdown of civility, factuality and dignity….as well as just plain old common sense….of discourse. Glenn Beck lacks basic American values.
Any ideas how many advertisers we need to lose before Glen Beck gets off the air?
Outstanding!
Is there a drop in revenue or just a shuffling of ads?
Happy to sign! Do you think Fox Noise will fire Glenn Beck?
I’d assume just a shuffling of the ads. They’re already in contract with Fox.They’re covering their market.
However, contracts don’t live forever.
Glad to help take Glenn Beck down. Wish I could affect Obama raising Healthcare up instead.
It’s not good enough. It time to put pressure on advertisers to pull out of Fox News Channel altogether.