August 26, 2009
Previously published on August 24, 2009
In what is turning out to be one of the more effective boycotts in recent years, a growing number of companies are pulling ads from the Glenn Beck Program on Fox News after the host called President Barack Obama a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people.”
Thus far, a reported total of 20 companies have deserted the show in response to a boycott campaign by Color of Change. Among the advertisers to pull spots from the conservative talk show are Procter & Gamble, Sargento Cheese, Progressive Insurance, Allergan, Ally Bank, Broadview Security, Re-Bath, ConAgra, lawyers.com, Men’s Warehouse, Radio Shack, and State Farm Insurance.
Beck, who made the remarks during a July 28 episode of Fox and Friends, draws an average of roughly 2 million viewers, making his show one of the biggest on Fox News.
Ad time on cable is typically bought in bulk, and not for specific shows, which means that some of the targeted companies’ ads may have ended up on the program without their knowledge and in violation of their own standards.
Color of Change is using a 600,000-member email list to urge people to sign a petition that is then forwarded to Beck’s sponsors, as well as contacting advertisers directly. The group was founded after the Hurricane Katrina disaster to promote “racial progress,” said James Rucker, its executive director, adding that this is the first time the group has led a boycott.
Fox News said through a spokeswoman that while some advertisers have “removed their spots from Beck,” they have shifted to “other programs on the network, so there has been no revenue lost.”
Why it matters: Some observers predict that Fox News will continue to air Beck’s show, given its popularity and the conservative leanings of owner Rupert Murdoch. Others think Fox will pull the plug on the show if enough advertisers go away and stay away, which is the goal of Color of Change’s boycott.
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