Earlier this week I sent e-mail to sponsors of "The Radio Factor" to protest crazy Bill's call for terrorists to attack San Francisco.
Tempur-Pedic responded as follows:
Thank you for contacting us about our radio advertisements!
Tempur-Pedic® is an advertiser of the O'Reilly Factor featuring Bill O'Reilly, but we do not in any way endorse the beliefs aired on the show. Tempur-Pedic® advertises on various radio and television programs to communicate to the public about our products and the benefits they provide.
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
We appreciate your interest in Tempur-Pedic® products!
[Name withheld]
Marketing Administrator
My response below the fold:
Dear [Name withheld],
Thank you for responding.
I understand that businesses such as Tempur-Pedic often buy advertising without regard to the programs during which the ads run. And in general I recognize that an advertiser is not accountable for the content of that programming. However, in an eggregious case such as this in which Mr. O'Reilly essentially invited a terrorist organization to attack American citizens and by extension Tempur-Pedic customers, the principle that states the advertiser is not responsible is put to the test.
Mr. O'Reilly's program is on the air in order to generate advertising revenues. By paying the program to run your ads you are materially supporting Mr. O'Reilly and the propogation of his noxious views. I would encourage Tempur-Pedic to review this case. There are times when corporate citizenship demands awareness of the content your advertising fees do in fact support. If Tempur-Pedic does not endorse Mr. O'Reilly's call to have some of its customers murdered by terrorists, and I assume it does not, then decency demands proactive opposition to this behavior.
Sincerely,
[Name withheld]
You have to admire the rhetorical power of that openning line. "Thank you for contacting us about our radio advertisements!" Exclamation point! Sheesh.
What can you do?