Glenn Beck Show Dropped by 11 More Advertisers

Posted by Tana Ganeva, AlterNet at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2009.

So far, Glenn Beck's response to the wildly successful Color of Change boycott campaign has consisted of smearing CoC founder Van Jones and fuming that mysterious, unnamed forces are out to get him. Apparently, that's not the best way to convince spooked sponsors that you are not a demented liability -- Color of Change just announced that 11 more advertisers have ditched Beck's Fox show. That makes a total 57.

From the Color of Change Press release:

Eleven new companies whose ads were recently seen during Beck’s program—Binder & Binder, Capital One, The Dannon Company, Discover, HSBC, ICAN Benefit Group Insurance, Infiniti, Jelmar (manufacturer of CLR All-Purpose Cleaner), Jordan McKenna Debt Counseling Network, Mercedes-Benz and Simplex Healthcare (creator of the Diabetes Care Club) —have pledged to ColorOfChange.org to take steps to ensure that their ads don’t run on Beck’s show. Fifty-seven companies have now committed not to support Beck’s show since ColorOfChange.org launched its campaign four weeks ago after the Fox News Channel host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

“We applaud those companies that have recently pulled their support from Beck,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “There are at least 57 companies who will not tolerate Beck’s race-baiting comments and we will continue to reach out to those who are still supporting him.”

Comments from advertisers recently distancing themselves from Beck:

In a phone conversation with ColorOfChange.org on Wednesday, Kathy Adkins, a Capital One spokesperson, confirmed that Capital One had instructed Fox News not to run the company’s ads during Beck’s program. “We don't plan on running any more ads on the Glenn Beck Show,” said Adkins.

“We have checked with our advertising area and have confirmed that a few ads ran on the Glen [sic] Beck Show as part of a FOX TV buy at the beginning of August,” said Tommy Shi, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Mercedes-Benz USA, in an email to ColorOfChange.org, “but no ads have run since on that show, nor are there plans to do so moving forward.”

“Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) considers its commitment to Diversity and Inclusion [sic] an integral part of its corporate culture and business strategy,” Shi added. “We believe that MBUSA's success is dependent on embracing the various cultures, nationalities and convictions of our associates and market that translate into meeting consumer needs and expectations for relevant products and services.”

“Discover is committed to supporting a wide variety of programming that features a diversity of talent, topics and opinions,” said Mai Lee Ua, Project Manager for Public Relations at Discover, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “Our current TV buys do not include any future airings on the Glenn Beck Show." She later added, “Our ads will not run during the show”.

“Infiniti has not placed any advertisements on this program for several weeks, and have no current plans to advertise on it in the future,” said Kyle W. Bazemore, Senior Manager of Product Communications at Infiniti, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. Bazemore later confirmed, “We have indeed instructed Fox not to place our ads on this program at this time.”
“We ceased advertising on the program and have no future plans for advertising on it,” said Cindy Savio, Vice-President of Public Affairs for HSBC-North America, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.

“We have requested that they [Fox News] re-schedule the spots,” said Dick Summer, Communications Director for Binder and Binder, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.

“Dannon doesn't plan to run any more ads on the program and we have informed the network of this,” said Michael J. Neuwirth, Senior Director of Public Relations for The Dannon Company & Danone Waters of America, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.

“We have contacted FOX News and demanded that our commercial not be run during the Glenn Beck show,” said Keith J. Waring, a spokesperson for the Jordan McKenna Debt Counseling Network, in an email to ColorOfChange.org.

“Please be advised that as of 8/28 we have fully removed ourselves from advertising within the Glenn Beck Show,” said Robyn Warren, a spokesperson for Koeppel Direct, the agency of record for Simplex Healthcare, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “Due to remnant buying that was in place, the lead time on pulling our advertising took longer but has been resolved.”

In a phone conversation with ColorOfChange.org on Monday, Dee Halloran, a spokesperson for ICAN Benefit Group, confirmed their request that Fox News not allow the company's ads to air during Glenn Beck's show.

“Jelmar typically cannot target specific shows or programming, and did not have a media buy specifically in place for Glenn Beck,” said Adrienne Gibbons, Marketing Director for Jelmar, in an email to ColorOfChange.org. “We have chosen at this time to ask that FOX News keep our advertising from this program.”
Four weeks ago, ColorOfChange.org called on its members to sign a petition urging companies who advertise on Glenn Beck to cut off their advertising support of his work. Shortly after reaching 150,000+ signatures, ColorOfChange.org began emailing those who signed the petition, asking them to call five major advertisers who continued to refuse to pull their ads: Clorox, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Lowe’s, Red Lobster and Vonage. To date, Red Lobster is the only company in the group that has not yet responded. ColorOfChange.org still continues to reach out to those companies found running advertisements during Glenn Beck’s programs.

Previous companies who have corrected advertising errors and/or pulled their ads entirely include Airware Inc. (makers of Brez anti-snoring aids), Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank (a unit of GMAC Financial Services), Ancestry.com, Applebee’s, AT&T, Bank of America, Bell & Howell, Best Buy, Blaine Labs Inc., Broadview Security, Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra, Clorox, CVS, DirecTv, Ditech, The Elations Company, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Farmers Insurance Group, GEICO, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson (makers of Tylenol), Kraft, Lawyers.com, Lowe’s, Men’s Wearhouse, NutriSystem, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, RadioShack, Re-Bath, Regions Financial Corporation, Roche, Sam (Store and Move), SC Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis, Sargento, Sprint, State Farm Insurance, Traveler’s Insurance, Travelocity, The UPS Store, Verizon Wireless, Vonage and Wal-Mart.

Tagged as: glenn beck, color of change, sponsors