On March 4th, in response to Ann Coulter's recent hate speech attack against John Edwards, a diary was posted to enlist the progressive community in contacting advertisers with placements on Ann Coulter's website. The call-to-action was not a plea for a boycott, but rather an awareness campaign. The purpose was to ask companies and organizations to voice opposition to speech which condones violence, bigotry and hatred by removing their ads. Most of these companies were not aware of their presence on www.anncoulter.com. The original content of the March 4th diary was spread across many other blogs. Likely hundreds of progressives across the blogosphere took valuable time to contact these companies and organizations.
On March 5th, CNN's Wolf Blitzer announced in a story on The Situation Room that three major "big name" advertisers had pulled ads from Coulter's site.
Go to the flip to see how Amazon thumbed its nose at the progressive community this past week...
On March 7th, the predominant online ad placement service, Value Click Network, announced it had discontinued all feeds to www.anncoulter.com, citing "hate speech" as rationale. As of March 8th, every significant advertiser had withdrawn ads...with the exception of one:Amazon.com.
So how did Amazon react to entreaties from its customers?
Not only has Amazon declined to remove its presence on Coulter's site, but this past week it purchased the top page banner ad which became available when other major advertisers pulled out. The banner ad ran through yesterday, although is it not present today. Amazon continues to run a search box along with another box ad promoting various books. It appears Amazon just basically gave us the finger.
In the initial phase of this awareness campaign, consumers writing to Amazon began receiving bizarre canned automated responses which incorrectly interpreted these emails as requests for Amazon to cease stocking Coulter's books. Rules programmed into Amazon's automated response system failed to accurately detect that customer emails were not asking Amazon to stop selling Coulter books. Most simply requested Amazon cease supporting Coulter through its online advertising. More detail can be found in this diary here.
At about the time the above-referenced diary was published, Amazon began modifying its automated response system, implying the presence of its Coulter ads was related to the "Amazon Associates" program and not direct Amazon advertising. Coulter is evidently a participant in the Amazon Associates program, and hawks her own and other conservative books on anncoulter.com in exchange for a "cut" from Amazon.
This shift in communication from Amazon brought forth a new issue: Why was Amazon allowing Coulter to participate in its Associates Program when such participation was likely in violation of the Associates Program Operating Agreement?
AMAZON: ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
The Amazon Associates Program and the issue of Coulter's compliance with the terms of its operating agreement is summarized well in this email from a published author whose book was once on Amazon's best seller list:
From: xxxxxxx xxxxxxx <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.com>
Date: March 12, 2007 3:07:11 PM HST
To: "Amazon.com Customer Service" <info@amazon.com>, ir@amazon.com
Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com Feedback/ Ann Coulter's Web Site
Dear Amazon,
Thank you for your speedy reply to my original email (see below). I am pleased that Amazon is responsive to client email, and I'm sure you have received quite a lot of it over the past week.
However, as a published author who sells through Amazon, and as frequent shopper, I find the content of your response to be wholly unsatisfying, especially your claim:
"that we do not endorse the point of view of any of our Associates, nor would we consider ourselves sponsors of their web
sites. In fact, our Associates include prominent web sites representing all sides of nearly every important political and social
issue of our time."
This is misleading at best. The terms of your own operating agreement for your Associates Program clearly states that you may reject any applicant's claim or terminate an existing agreement if the associate does any of the following:
.promote violence
.promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age
.promote illegal activities
While someone at AnnCoulter.com may have scrubbed the site of some of its more egregious content since this controversy began, it is also clear that Coulter's public comments and writings do all three of these things, some of which remain posted on her site. The text of her essays on Ann Coulter.com have promoted violence against former Senator Lincoln Chafee, against liberals in general, and against even sitting Supreme Court Justice David Souter. She has promoted discrimination against Arabs, homosexuals. Here are few quotes that may still be found on her web site today:
"I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
"When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building."
While Coulter may wish to shield herself from criticism by claiming that she is only joking, I would point out that it is a crime to incite violence against an elected public official, as a joke or otherwise. And the terms of your own Operating Agreement do not make any exceptions for humor.
But this is beside the point. Paragraph 12 of your Operating Agreement also states that you may terminate an agreement without cause.
Term of the Agreement:
"The term of this Agreement will begin upon our acceptance of your Program application and will end when terminated by either party. Either you or we may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, by giving the other party written notice of termination."
At bottom, you are hiding behind your Operating Agreement. Your argument is flimsy and does not address this situation on its merits: that Ann Coulter's brand of "commentary" is really only a form of hate speech that Amazon supports and profits from by way of its advertising choices. If you believe that killing Arabs "represents [a] side...of an important political and social issue," you ought to enroll in a basic ethics class. This is not reasoned debate; it is invective, and it has only one purpose. Your failure to address the issue on the merits is cowardly and likely to backfire.
In closing allow me to leave you with this image from Ann Coulter's web site, captured this morning. Please note the complete absence of any external advertising in the spaces where such ads once appeared. All empty except for the one space at the bottom right occupied by Amazon.com.
You are alone in the wilderness. Again, I urge you to reconsider your relationship to this web site.
Amazon purchased the top page banner ad which ran through Thursday, continues to maintain other block ads on the site, and continues to permit Ann Coulter's participation in its Associates Program. It appears Amazon has made a choice to value speech which can incite violence and hate over corporate responsibility.
GOODBYE, AMAZON:
Amazon absolutely has right to advertise wherever it so chooses. Likewise, consumers have the right to choose where they do business. Having been an Amazon customer almost since its inception, I personally have enjoyed its services, and spent significant sums with them. However, there are alternatives. Reluctantly, I cancelled my Amazon.com account today. Amazon has had the chance to do the right thing for the last ten days. IMO they blew it.
CONTACTING AMAZON:
Although it appears Amazon has made its decison, if you wish to contact them, email addresses are below:
ir@amazon.com (Investor Relations)
ecr@amazon.com (Executive Customer Relations)
ALTERNATIVES:
A decision to choose with whom to do business is a personal one. A 2500 respondent poll in a previous diary indicates that about 90% of registered users on DKos are Amazon.com members. Extrapolated, that means that about 108,000 registered Kossacks have an Amazon account.
Some Kossacks may choose to leave Amazon, others may not. It's a matter of personal choice. However, for those looking for alternatives, here's a few:
Online New and Used Books:
A number of Kossacks have recommended these two vendors in previous diary comments:
Portland-based Powell's Books, an independent bookstore. Website link is here.
Alibris Books. Link is here.
Online Consumer Goods, including both books and electronics
An excellent resource for finding just about anything one would want to purchase is Bizrate.com. The site link is here.
Bizrate is a comparison shopping site which posts multiple vendors and lists items by price and customer service ratings. Pricing shown includes shipping charges and taxes, if applicable, for viable apples-to-apples comparisons. I have personally found the customer service ratings of Bizrate vendors, based on consumer recommendations, to be very reliable.
DKudos:
Hopefully, unless circumstances warrant, this will be the last in this series of diaries regarding Ann Coulter advertisers. Again, thanks to everyone in the DKos and other progressive communities for actively participating in this awareness campaign. IT WORKED BECAUSE YOU WORKED.
And finally, kudos to the responsible corporate and organizational citizens that did the right thing. Shown below is the updated list of those which demonstrated great corporate responsibility, either through the media or in response to consumer inquiries:
Online Ad Placement Networks:
Value Click Network
Companies/Organizations:
NetBank
Washington Mutual
USA TODAY
Verizon Communications
Sallie Mae
Toyota
Yahoo
Mitsubishi
AT&T/Cingular
IAC Group (Zwenky.com and other online ventures)
BellSouth
ING Financial
Dollar Rent-A-Car
VintageCotton.com
Edmunds.com
Dogpile.com
Novica.com (in conjuction with National Geographic)
SmileTrain.org
University of Phoenix
Sallie Mae
LasikPlus
Power Chord Academy
1-800-CONTACTS
Gulf Shores.com/Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau
Ulta.com
Yellow Pages.com
Classmates.com (subsidiary of United Online)
Wireless Foundation