Rush Limbaugh and his (remaining) advertisers
A few minutes ago I received this email reply:
"We understand Rush is crazy and do not support him at all. This is the millionth email about this."
—A Rush Limbaugh advertiser
Rush Limbaugh
As far as I know, I may have sent two of those "millions". I don't know who sent the rest, but I expect some of them came from a group called Flush Rush.
In March, an article in Forbes offered What Brands Can Learn From The 'Flush Rush' Movement. The article addressed various dilemmas for advertisers who find themselves on a controversial program, including what we call the ProFlowers Pitfall. That occurs when companies believe that simply denying their support for controversy makes everything O.K.
Shortly after the firestorm of protest enveloped Rush, PR Director Danielle Arceneaux wrote:
ProFlowers initially issued a statement on its Facebook that stated, “We would like to assure you that we do not endorse the views expressed by Rush Limbaugh. We understand your concerns and value your feedback.”
[But their circumstances] contradicted ProFlowers' carefully worded statement.
—Danielle Arceneaux, Vice President and Director of Public Relations for Cramer-Krasselt New York: What Brands Can Learn From The 'Flush Rush' Movement
ProFlowers, very visibly continuing to sponsor the Rush Limbaugh Show in spite of their carefully worded statement, was
inundated with messages on Facebook. They were
swamped with tweets from Twitter. A
petition to ProFlowers collected one hundred thousand signatures in two days. Before long, ProFlowers acknowledged they were swimming against the current.
More Rush after the fold
The company decided to stop advertising on the Rush Limbaugh Show, posting to its Facebook page:
ProFlowers: We do not base our advertising decisions to align with any particular political view or opinion, as our employees and customers are as diverse as the U.S.A. Mr. Limbaugh’s recent comments went beyond political discourse to a personal attack and do not reflect our values as a company.
—New York Times: Limbaugh Advertisers Flee Show Amid Storm
PR Director Danielle Arceneaux wrote that companies should:
Ditch the platitudes. Have a point of view.
Danielle Arceneaux: While the Facebook pages of brands were receiving six or more negative posts a minute, most brands issued trite and meaningless statements, thanking consumers for their "valuable feedback." This may have been what their lawyers approved, but the pat responses infuriated the community. Consumers outed these brands for not "getting" social media, and they were right.
—Danielle Arceneaux, Vice President and Director of Public Relations for Cramer-Krasselt New York: What Brands Can Learn From The 'Flush Rush' Movement
Danielle Arceneaux advises corporations on their public image. If she were hired to counsel Rush Limbaugh, her advice would likely be to stop fanning the flames. Of course,
Rush doesn't seem one to listen to such advice. Indeed, the shtick that helped Rush build his brand may now be
setting him up for continuing opposition.
Limbaugh's syndicator routinely fakes it
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck are syndicated by a company called Premiere Networks. Premiere Networks has a secretive voice talent hiring service called Premiere On Call which requires their voice talent hirelings to sign a confidentiality agreement. That agreement was public for at least a couple of years until I blew the whistle on them in July. Now applicants get a "sign up, we'll be in touch" message.
Rush Limbaugh
This is what the agreement said when it was visible:
By joining this roster/agreeing to perform work for Premiere you are also agreeing to keep the type of work that you perform confidential. This applies to information acquired while working for Premiere or any of its affiliates.
Disclosure to any third party, sharing project information or publicizing(including via social media) may be considered grounds for dismissal or further action.
When "actors are hired to read scripts and pretend to be real people," it is all about creating an image. Such shenanigans
were initially exposed months before Rush Limbaugh's Sandra Fluke tirade, but didn't get much notice.
The point is, we often don't know whether calls to the Limbaugh Show are legitimate individuals, or paid talent reading from a script. One wonders: after losing millions of dollars for the radio networks because of his attacks on Sandra Fluke, would Rush risk telling a random caller "you are a vagina" if she wasn't hired talent?
The following is an excerpt from a much longer call. Throughout, the caller sets Rush up for his talking points. Each seems to know exactly what the other is thinking. Perhaps they simply think alike. But when we know about Premiere On Call, we shouldn't dismiss the probability that we're listening to a pre-written script.
Rush Limbaugh to female caller: "You are a Vagina"
RUSH: Let me just... I want to tell you and everybody else how the Obama campaign looks at women. Every one of them.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm?
RUSH: This is how they approach women. This is how they attempt to get their votes. Beth, you are —
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: Don't interrupt me here. I want you to hear every word of it. You are a vagina.
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: You use it multiple times a day, and you want somebody else to pay for the contraception so that you can use your vagina every day. And then when the contraception fails, you want an abortion, and you want somebody else to pay for that. "I'm your guy, vote Obama!"
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: That's their appeal to women, and their appeal is that Republicans don't like your vagina. They don't want you using your vagina, except when they want to. And then if you do get pregnant, by God, you are going to have the baby! And then you're gonna be put in jail!
CALLER: Right, right, right. Which is crazy. I wish I had time to use my vagina millions of times a day, but unfortunately due to this economy, I'm working probably 15 hours a day. It's just absolutely crazy.
RUSH: That's why it's insulting.
CALLER: Yes!
RUSH: They treat women as one dimensional. You want everything free and you want no responsibility in your life.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: You don't want to accept any consequences for any of your actions. You want to be on welfare. Your derelict husbands don't love you. Only Obama and government do. Your husband isn't going to take care of you and you can't take care of the yourself. Only government can. I mean, that's their appeal to you.
CALLER: Yes. Yes.
RUSH: Plus the vagina stuff.
CALLER: It is. It is. And, you know, I want to say that, as I would think an average woman, you know, I'm single, I'm divorced, I'm taking care of three kids, I'm working my butt off, and this administration has not made it any easier. I can't afford to put gas in my car.
RUSH: Right. You're a human being. You suffer economic consequence like everybody else. You want cheaper gasoline. You want more affordable prices. You want an economy that's growing. You want to be able to get a raise at your job. You want to have a choice in jobs. You want to maybe have a career, those are things you care about, but not to the Obama campaign.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: Women don't think that way.
CALLER: Absolutely. [emphasis added]
—Rush Limbaugh: Woman to Obama: We're Not That Stupid, October 22, 2012
Some object to the Vagina dialog.
Nothing wrong with respectfully discussing vaginas, obviously. But declaring that a woman
IS a vagina, all for the dubious purpose of crude political commentary?
That idea is vulgar. How far down the slope have we slipped?
Others are put off by Rush in the same conversation advising the woman to give someone an enema with her car. Limbaugh proves once again that his unchecked vocal impulses are entirely inappropriate for the public airwaves.
So here is the question:
What sort of cynical consciousness does it take to broadcast on the nation's public airwaves — perhaps with premeditation — such a vulgar assertion about women?
Your comments invited below.
Flush Rush on Facebook: http://facebook.com/...
Stop Rush database: http://stoprush.net
My Stop Rush blog posts: http://dailykos.com/...