You advertise because you want to reach people. All of those companies paying for all of those ads on Rush Limbaugh's show -- they aren't inherently evil, they just want to reach people. Rush Limbaugh's listeners are people (my friend), they consume, and that's what producers want in an advertising audience.
Unless the laws of economics have been suspended, by driving down demand we have driven down the cost of advertising on the Rush Limbaugh show. That's not why we did it, but it does have one nice effect -- now it is cheaper for us to buy ad time.
I define "us" in that last sentence to be the Left, DKos, Democrats, the Obama campaign, the Occupy movement, George Soros's cat -- whoever wants to advertise for the fundamental purpose of advertising: to reach people. And, of course, producing a radio ad, having it be refused by Limbaugh radio stations even in this time of distress, and then releasing it virally would be almost as good as inserting our own voice into Rush Limbaugh's show. But I'll tell you something: I'll bet that some local stations, at least, would be willing to take our money right now -- and that in itself would become a huge story.)
Are there things we'd like to say to Rush Limbaugh's listeners in the very middle of his program? Oh, I'm sure that there are. Some of what we'd like to say involves talking smack at them, but I think we should resist the urge. They are wounded right now, desperate and frantic. Saying "IN YOUR FACE!" would just help them regroup.
No, the kind of ad I'd like to hear playing in the middle of the middle of the Rush Limbaugh show is one that would be thoughtful, speaking to them like adults. It would be an ad, or a series of ads, that showed understanding of the reasons why someone might want to listen to the Rush Limbaugh show -- mostly, that it makes certain people feel good about themselves, largely by making them feel bad about others. But it would be an ad that would point out how far they have gone outside of the American mainstream, outside of American ideals.
It would be an ad that asked them to be adults. An ad that would shame them not by scolding, but by pointing out the flaws in Limbaugh's approach and asking them to be better than that.
It would be an ad that picked apart Limbaugh's shtick so that the jokes he tells would no longer be funny to people. It would be an ad that exposes Limbaugh as having the function of getting people who should be upset at corporations sucking their blood to instead focus on hapless targets whom Limbaugh has dressed up to look like witches.
It would be an ad that asked whether they really think that taking birth control pills makes women sluts. It would be an ad that asked them what their daughters think about their listening to, and mindlessly parroting, Rush Limbaugh.
It would be an ad pointing out the emptiness that one takes away from that sort of political appeal.
It would be a calm, strong, swift stake through the heart.
Or ... maybe we would just make fun of them, "we're in ur radio grabbin' ur ears!" That would, um, not be entirely unlike us. This could go in different directions; even in different directions on different local stations.
The point is, with Limbaugh's advertisers fleeing, we can get in there and say anything we want to them, cheaply. The few ad dollars aren't going to make Limbaugh rich. They'll just set the stage for his demise.
We want to go after his listeners. We want to tell them to grow up, to use their collective power for real change on behalf of the 99%, not for the cheap thrill of snickering at Rush's Target of the Day.
We want to reach these people and there's exactly one place where we could do it best -- on the Rush Limbaugh show itself, where our showing up to harsh their buzz will be the surest sign to them that their party is over.
We can call it "Operation Audacity."
I don't have a text for a radio ad in mind, because I know that there are plenty of people here who are in the media industries and who do this for a living, and I'll bet that some of them may be willing and able to write something great by this afternoon. More even than usual, I look forward to your comments.