As of yesterday, 36 sponsors have pulled their ads from Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News. One of those recent drop outs is UPS. It has now been confirmed that UPS, like Chrysler, has pulled all of its advertising from the Fox News Channel, not just Glenn Beck’s show.

Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, which he said has temporarily halted buying ads on Fox News Channel as a whole.

If you’d like to thank UPS for their decision, here is their contact information:

United Parcel Service of America, Inc. – UPS
UPS Corporate Headquarters
55 Glenlake Parkway, NE
Atlanta , GA 30328
customer.service@ups.com

https://www.ups.com/upsemail/input?loc=en_US&reqID=SUP

Original Story

Share this article

There are now a total of 36 companies that have pulled their ads from Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News Channel.

The new companies distancing themselves from Beck include Airware Inc. (makers of Brez anti-snoring aids), Ancestry.com, AT&T, Blaine Labs Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Clorox, Ditech, The Elations Company, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Farmers Insurance Group, Johnson & Johnson (makers of Tylenol), Lowe’s, NutriSystem, Sprint, The UPS Store and Verizon Wireless.

Here are some statements from some of the recently departed sponsors:

SPRINT: “Sprint ads appeared as part of a broader rotational package of advertising purchased on the Fox Network… They were not specifically targeted to the Glenn Beck Show nor should they air during this program going forward… I wanted to let you know that we have taken steps to make sure that [Sprint] will not be advertising on the Glenn Beck show.”

LOWES: “While we will continue to advertise on news programming, including FOX News, there are certain programs on the FOX Network that do not meet Lowe’s advertising guidelines, including The O’Reilly Factor and Glenn Beck Program.”

CLOROX: “Per our advertising standards, we don’t advertise in programs that display exploitive sex or violence, treat ethnic, religious, or political groups in a disparaging manner, present facts inaccurately or distort them to blatantly partisan advantage, and treat individuals or groups in a demeaning manner… We have had limited advertisements on the Glenn Beck Program in the past, however the statements he made during that show would not adhere to our programming standards. Furthermore, we will not be advertising on his program in the future since he did violate our own advertising standards.”

THE UPS STORE: “We have addressed the issue… You will not see our ads on The Glenn Beck TV program.”

NUTRISYSTEM: “We are no longer advertising on Beck’s program… You can now include us with the other companies that have stopped advertising.”

CAMPBELL SOUP CO.: “We obviously neither condone nor endorse Mr. Beck’s comments… We were not pleased when we heard them [the comments] and they certainly don’t reflect the views of this company. We have no advertising currently slated for Mr. Beck’s program and don’t have any plans for the future… In light of the consistency of comments that are made, we don’t plan to advertise there in the future… We have communicated to our media buying agency that we will not be advertising on that show.”

JOHNSON & JOHNSON: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention… These advertisements ran on Glenn Beck as part of a rotational advertising package on Fox News, and I have shared your thoughts with those in our organization responsible for making those rotational buys. We have now informed the network to not include it in our rotation moving forward.”

VERIZON WIRELESS: “We, on our own, looked at where we’re spending our advertising… We made a decision that we don’t want to be advertising on that program for a lot of reasons.”

DITECH: “We hear your concerns and are no longer advertising on the Glenn Beck show.”

ANCESTRY.COM: “Ancestry.com buys television advertising on many networks, including Fox News, but does not sponsor any specific content or program… However, once this issue surfaced, we instructed Fox News to exclude our advertisements from the Glenn Beck program.”

AIRWARE INC.: “I wanted to let you know that AirWare Inc., the manufacturer of Brez anti-snoring aids, has instructed its advertising agency to insure that none of our advertisements run on the Glenn Beck show… Because of the way TV advertising is purchased, company executives were not aware in advance that our ads would be running on the show.”

BLAINE LABS, INC.: “We have requested that the ads not appear on the Glen [sic] Beck show… Our contract is essentially a, ‘fill in where there is empty space’, [sic] and lately, I guess there has been a lot of empty space on the Beck show due to your organization. Our new contract comes up sometime in September and that show will be stricken from the rotation. We do not support [G]lenn [B]eck and do not support his show.”

FARMERS INSURANCE GROUP: “What we did last Thursday was our advertising department requested of Fox News Channel that they no longer place a portion of our ads on the Glenn Beck Program [sic].”

THE ELATIONS CO.: “Just want to let you know that we will no longer be advertising on that [Glenn Beck's] program.”

Original Story

Share this article

A visitor left a comment this morning that included a link to a petition being signed by Glenn Beck supporters. Of course, like so many similar comments, it was off topic and was not approved. I do feel the need to share, so you all can enjoy the contents of the petition letter:

We want to alert you to the fact that Glenn Beck–whose show you used to sponsor on FOX–did not use his platform to “make outlandish accusations about the President and to advance baseless theories that prey on race-based fears.”

He DOES NOT have a “deep-seated hatred for white people.” The claims by such “sources” as the Huffington Post are “ludicrous”.

WE presume your company does not want to lose the millions of consumers that both watch Mr. Beck’s show or listen to him on the radio. We urge you to immediately correct your cowardly action and return your advertising back to the Glenn Beck Program on the FOX News Channel or lose millions more consumers.

First, the beginning paragraph is subjective, at best, and an outright lie, at worst. Glenn Beck certainly does make outlandish accusations about the President, stimulus, other people, and Alaska. He even seems to agree that the U.S. needs to be attacked by terrorists again.

The second paragraph either suggests that Beck was accused of having a “deep-seated hatred for white people…” or that Obama does not. It’s hard to tell from the wording and the fact that a second paragraph was created to make such a statement. I’m not sure who would suggest the former, as the majority likely believe the opposite is true, but the latter would make the first paragraph incorrect.

If the petition author intended to assert that Obama “DOES NOT,” then that is an “outlandish accusation” about the President made by Beck. Additionally, if the latter was the intent, then it is not “ludicrous” to believe that the “sources” are incorrect. (Why put quotes around “sources” anyway? Are they not sources?) There is ample proof that Beck made these statements. How could someone believe he didn’t?

Finally, if you want to get a sponsor to come back it’s probably best not to resort to name calling… If anything, it would probably make them regret their decision to advertise on Fox News even more, or make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again.

Share this article

Kraft Foods is one of many companies to pull their ads from Glenn Beck‘s show on Fox News recently. Here is a visitor-submitted response received from Kraft regarding their decision.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of shows with extreme content, including on the political front. These shows often are controversial and do not align with our company or brand values. We do not want to become associated with controversy simply because of the placement of a 30-second spot. That’s why we have made the decision to stop advertising on the more politically extreme programs, including The Glenn Beck Show, on all networks.

If you haven’t done so already, please add our site to your favorites and visit us again soon!

Kim McMiller
Associate Director, Consumer Relations

Share this article

Visitor submitted response from L.L. Bean:

From: L.L. Bean Public Affairs – publicaffairs@llbean.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 1:20 PM
Subject: L.L.Bean

Dear Sir/Madame,

Thank you for contacting L.L.Bean with your concerns regarding our advertising on Fox.

L.L.Bean does very limited television advertising and we instruct network and cable stations to show our commercials at a time when a large number of people may see it.  Viewers should not assume that L.L.Bean endorses or opposes a specific view expressed by Fox or any other station.

To reach a broad audience we run commercials on all the major networks (ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, etc.) and cable channels (BRAVO, CNN, Weather Channel, etc.).

It has always been L.L.Bean’s mission to provide information to our customers on our products and services while recognizing a responsibility to, and a deep respect for, all of our customer groups. We are very concerned that you felt compelled to write to us on this issue and hope that the information I have provided gives you a better understanding of our television advertising criteria.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.  You are a valued customer and your opinion is very important to us.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Beem
Manager, Public Affairs

Isn’t it nice that they instruct us to “not assume that L.L.Bean endorses or opposes a specific view expressed by Fox or any other station.” Obviously, they do endorse FNC views by spending part of their advertising budget there. Keep up the pressure. Here is L.L. Bean’s contact information:

L. L. Bean
Freeport, ME 04033-0001
1-800-441-7513
Fax: 207-552-3080
publicaffairs@llbean.com

http://www.llbean.com/customerService/contactUs/contactUsPhone.html

Share this article

Email from CREDO Action:

I’m delighted to let you know that we received confirmation today that Verizon Wireless is no longer advertising on the Glenn Beck show.

ColorOfChange.org has done amazing work to bring national awareness to Beck’s race-baiting commentary on FOX News Channel. In the last few weeks, over 20 companies including Wal-Mart, CVS, Best Buy, and Travelocity have confirmed with ColorOfChange.org that they have ceased advertising on the show or placed Glenn Beck’s program on a “do not air” list.

It was on July 28 that Glenn Beck declared on FOX News Channel: “This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people … this guy is, I believe, a racist.”

The response of corporate advertisers distancing themselves from Beck’s despicable remarks is encouraging. But these baseless, racist and increasingly dangerous attacks also reveal just how far the right-wing media machine will go to try and stop our movement for change.

Thank you for working for a better world.

Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action

I'm delighted to let you know that we received confirmation today that Verizon
Wireless is no longer advertising on the Glenn Beck show. 

ColorOfChange.org has done amazing work to bring national awareness to Beck's
race-baiting commentary on FOX News Channel. In the last few weeks, over 20
companies including Wal-Mart, CVS, Best Buy, and Travelocity have confirmed with
ColorOfChange.org that they have ceased advertising on the show or placed Glenn
Beck's program on a "do not air" list. 

It was on July 28 that Glenn Beck declared on FOX News Channel: "This president
has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated
hatred for white people ... this guy is, I believe, a racist." 

The response of corporate advertisers distancing themselves from Beck's
despicable remarks is encouraging. But these baseless, racist and increasingly
dangerous attacks also reveal just how far the right-wing media machine will go
to try and stop our movement for change. 

Thank you for working for a better world.

Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action

Share this article

Rumors are going around, based on an article from TVNewser, on mediabistro.com, that Glenn Beck is taking a “forced” vacation. Unfortunately, no sources are named, but I suspect that is because they work at Fox News Channel and fear repercussions.

Tipsters inside Fox News tell us Glenn Beck’s vacation this week from his Fox News show was not planned. We hear Beck was told to take this week off to let some of the heat surrounding him die down.

Apparently Beck’s publicist and other people close to Beck have denied this, but the sources claim that it was Beck, himself, that stated he was forced to take the week off. He will return, in all his bigoted glory, on Monday.

Original Story

Share this article

Sean Hannity, often times factually deficient, made the following statement about the future of Social Security…

HANNITY: How does this impact? Two bits of news came out today that really scared me on top of all the bad economic news that we got last week that I’ll ask you about in a second.

Max Baucus says Social Security could face default within two years. He said that yesterday. And we have hundreds of dealers have dumped the Cash for Clunkers program. They’re not getting paid.

Sean Hannity attributed the “default” statement to Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) when, in fact, it was Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) who made the statement. And, Bachus’ staff had clarified that he meant to say that Social Security could face a “deficit,” not “default.”

Original Story

Share this article

Fox News is reporting that American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has lost 60,000 members since July 1, 2009. Keep reading to see why the following claims are BS.

Hannity claimed loss of 60,000 members “very indicative.” On August 18, Fox News’ Sean Hannity stated: “[W]hat are we to make of the AARP? According to reports now — CBS News had a report — 60,000 members of the AARP have left. I think that’s very indicative that they’re losing seniors. There is a conservative alternative, American Seniors for Choice, which is against Obama’s plan. They gained as many as 5,000 members.” He also stated that AARP’s “love affair” with President Obama “has cost the AARP tens of thousands of members.”

Fox News’ Van Susteren: “Sixty thousand senior citizens have bolted AARP.” On the August 18 edition of her Fox News show, Greta Van Susteren stated: “They’re out — 60,000 of them. Sixty thousand senior citizens have bolted AARP since July 1.” She then interviewed an AARP member who stated that she is planning to quit the group because of her views on the AARP’s position on health care reform.

Doocy: “Sixty thousand people: that is the number of people who have left or canceled AARP.” On August 19, Fox News Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy stated: “Sixty thousand people: that is the number of people who have left or canceled AARP — the American Association of Retired Persons — since July 1st. Some members are outraged and continue to criticize the over-50 group because of their support for health care reform.” The following graphic appeared onscreen while Doocy spoke:

There are two sides to every story, and in this case the other side provides the whole truth… Let’s look at the figures, first, regarding membership numbers for AARP to see why Fox News’ claims are misleading. AARP claims that they regularly lose 300,000 members per month due to reasons including death. AARP also gained 400,000 members and 1.5 million members have renewed since July 1. AARP has around 40 million members, making that 60,000 a fraction of a percent.

Original Story

Share this article

Visitor submitted response from Office Depot:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Office Depot. We value feedback from our customers and those who live in the communities in which we serve.

One of our stated values is to build and sustain an inclusive culture that approaches all opportunities and challenges by respecting the diverse thoughts, beliefs, backgrounds, faiths and cultures of customers, suppliers, associates and shareholders. In terms of our marketing practices, our goal is to advertise in suitable, non-offensive programming which reaches our target audiences in an effective and efficient manner. We take reasonable measures to avoid airing advertisements on broadcasts that do not meet our general criteria. Occasionally, a program we’ve elected to include in our advertising mix may air an episode with content that some may find objectionable. Please understand that while we are generally able to select or reject programs based on the overall content contained in prior episodes, we do not know, nor do we have access to, the content of any future episodes.  Further, Office Depot does not support or endorse the views expressed on any particular show or segment.

As always, we will approach our business in a manner that is respectful to our diverse customer base and we will continue to advertise in a variety of outlets in accordance with our guidelines stated above. Thank you again for writing to Office Depot.

Sincerely,
Sandy Akin
Senior Lead E-Commerce
Office Depot Corporate
6600 North Military Trail
Boca Raton, Florida 33496-2434
Email:sandy.akin@officedepot.com
Fax: 561-438-6624

I’m reminded of the saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Fox News & Glenn Beck have a history of hateful and violent rhetoric, but Office Depot has chosen to ignore that. Here is Office Depot’s contact information:

Office Depot
2200 Old Germantown Road
Delray Beach, FL 33445
Office Depot Corporate:
6600 North Military Trail
Boca Raton, Florida 33496-2434
Sandy Akin, Senior Lead E-Commerce
Fax: 561-438-6624
Email:sandy.akin@officedepot.com
http://www.officedepot.com/…

Share this article

Visitor submitted response from Nissan:

Thank you for your correspondence to Nissan North America, Inc. dated 08/18/09.

We at Nissan North America, Inc. are very concerned about acceptable advertising environments for programs. Like other advertisers, Nissan North America, Inc. does not participate in the development of scripts for TV. We do have both a professional screening service and our advertising agency monitoring the general content of programs carrying the Nissan message.

We recognize that people have different standards as to the acceptable content, and we are sorry that you found this program in particular to be unacceptable. We appreciate your time and concern in contacting us.

Sincerely,
Nissan North America, Inc.
Jennifer Lamont
Consumer Relations Representative
National Consumer Affairs

Short and to the point – they support Fox News’ hateful and incendiary programming with their advertising dollars. You can use the information above and mention that Chrysler will not advertise on Fox News in your correspondence with Nissan. Here is their contact information:

Nissan
P.O. Box 685003
Franklin TN 37068-5003
(800) NISSAN-1 (800-647-7261)

http://www.nissanusa.com/apps/contactus

Share this article

Visitor submitted response from Ford Motor Company:

From: crcfmc@ford.com [mailto:crcfmc@ford.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 8:12 PM
Subject: Ford Motor Company

Thank you for contacting the Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center regarding Ford’s television advertisement.

We believe one of the most effective ways to connect with customers and generate mass awareness of our products is through television advertising. We treat our purchase of commercial time as we do any other prime time, mainstream television program.  By buying commercial time on top-rated shows, we are not making judgment on the specific content of the show but simply making an optimized attempt to reach our many customers through award-winning television programming.  Ford Motor Company values the opinions and sensibilities of our customers worldwide and will continue to try to place advertising on programs that reach and appeal to our diverse customer base.

Sometimes e-mail communication does not allow us to gain additional information that may be helpful in responding to your inquiry.  Should you feel that we have not adequately addressed your questions, please feel free to contact us via telephone at (800)392-3673 between the hours of 8am and 5pm, local time, Monday through Friday.  Hearing-impaired callers with access to a TDD may contact 1-800-232-5952.

Sincerely,
Joy
Customer Relationship Center
Ford Motor Company

Obviously Ford has chosen to support Fox News’ biased and incendiary programming. You can use the information contained in the email above to tailor your communications to Ford. You may also want to mention that Chrysler will not advertise on Fox News. Here is Ford’s contact information:

Ford Motor Company
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126
800-392-3673
Customer Relationship Center:
crcfmc@ford.com

http://www.ford.com/owner-services/customer-support/contact-ford

Share this article

As the “death panel” claims are debunked time and time again, Fox News may be backtracking and using terms like “De Facto Death Panels.”

BECK: The death panel isn’t a firing squad. Sarah Palin made a point — I guess you could say in an inflammatory way. But when you implement a government health system, as they have found out in the U.K. and everywhere else on the planet, you are left with no other choice. That’s just the way it is. Rationing is inevitable, and they know it. When — when will someone in the media expose all of the lies?

BECK: Anyway, tell me about — am I wrong in saying, without any inflammatory speech here — don’t call them death panels, just let’s call them what they are. You have a certain amount of money and a certain amount of people. You can’t — they don’t — you can’t give everything to everybody. Isn’t it inevitable that you have to make tough choices?

Original Story

Share this article

Ever wonder how you can tell when Fox News is biased, besides it just being on? The source used for the information in the graphic below is cited as being “Conservative Blogs.”  Ohhhh… ok…. What’s next? “The guy from that place?”

Share this article

I stumbled across the following email response from Sargento, which is much more direct than their previous response we received:

We appreciate your sharing your concerns about our advertising. Our organization remains true to its mid-western roots and values. Some would say that means we’re conservative. In the end, we hold true to our nation’s heritage that values free expression of varying political opinions. We advertise on Fox News, however, we felt Glenn Beck went too far when he suggested poisoning someone with whom he disagrees. Rhetoric that reflects action that would result in the death of someone is never acceptable to us. Therefore, we have advised our advertising agency that they should reallocate our Fox News buy among other Fox News programs.

Our wish overall is to move beyond the conversation about politics and focus on our primary mission to bring consumers great cheese products. We don’t want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your views with us.

Pat Lombardo
Sargento Consumer Affairs Department

Share this article