Last night, I posted my first diary, "My adventures in foxnews boycotting" which generated a suprising amount of comments and recs. In it was information about the process of boycotting the advertisers of foxnews. I give a comprehensive list of advertisers I have contacted, as well as documentation of their responses (or non-responses) as well as tips for how to deal with the companies..
In it, I am issuing a call to arms- contact at least 5 companies every day, asking them (always politely!!) to remove their advertising from fox news due to the unimaginable awfulness of the comments on the glenn beck show.
I would appreciate if this diary could get the same treatment. I am trying to post it much earlier in the day, and i will continually update it as the responses roll in.
Once again, I am asking everyone who is sending emails out to any of these companies to leave posts and/or quotes of their responses up in the comments section (mostly to compare notes- but also so that we can see who takes the time to actually read and respond to the emails, and who just copy and pastes non-responses and must, therefore, be contacted through more personal means).
As of yesterday evening at 10pm EST, this was how I stood:
Companies I Am Waiting to Hear From:
Best Buy
Travelocity
Ditech (my email was forwarded to the Marketing Department for consideration)
Wachovia
Pillsbury/ General Mills
Travelocity
Remax
ProtectmyID.com
Office Depot
American Express
Franklin-Templeton Investments
Chattem Chemicals / Capzasin
Yahoo!
UBS
Tyson Foods
Target
Subaru
State Farm Insurance
Splenda / Johnson and Johnson
One a Day / Bayer
WebMD
Terminix
Rosetta Stone
1-800-Pet-Meds
IAMS
AT&T
CDW
Centrum
Comcast - I called them and the told me to call corporate at 215-665-1700, where someone transferred me to an answering machine of someone yet to get back to me.
Hertz
Lowes
Holiday Inn Express
Adobe
American Standard Companies Inc.
Dannon
I had gotten Inadequate Responses from (specific details - including the texts of the emails they sent to me are in yesterday's diary):
GM
Orbitz
Progressive Insurance
Priceline
I had responded to the following companies' responses and was waiting for further contact:
Crest/P&G
Nextel
Walmart
And the only company that had gotten back to me twice:
Toyota.
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Since 9am this morning I have heard from:
Bayer - This response filled me with anger. It is the absolute worst type of response you will receive:
Thank you for taking the time to contact Bayer HealthCare. We appreciate your comments about our advertising.
Given the wide diversity of media today and wider range of public opinion on any given issue, it would be an impossible task to find a major television network whose entire programming schedule appeals to all audiences. Bayer, like any advertiser who purchases large packages of advertising time, runs the risk of having an occasional ad run on a network that broadcasts programming that some might find offensive.
In making commercial buying decisions, we evaluate the size and composition of the estimated audience along with program content and our business needs. We also employ a program screening service and media buying service to assist us in making these decisions.
We appreciate the opinions you have expressed and thank you for providing us with an opportunity to respond. While there may always be reasonable
differences over what constitutes acceptable programming, we do try to exercise good judgment in selecting networks on which to advertise.
My response (which is still working from yesterday's response template) was the following:
Thank you for your timely response. However, you must think i am stupid (or else, i have never taken any sort of rudimentary advertising/economics course). Unfortunately, a non-response meant to brush my concerns over isn't sufficient when someone you pay advocates terrorism against the US in order to forward a political agenda.
Additionally, I find your response to be incredibly patronizing and is a very poor attempt to divert away from the issue at hand. Yes, i DO understand how television works. Do you??
Do you happen to know how these networks are funded?? it's not by me, it's not by the government.
We hope you understand -- it's by YOU- companies that PAY THEM in order to run advertising. it's not like Fox news randomly picked your company out of a hat, and is doing you a service by running ads for you on their network. YOU have chosen that they DESERVE YOUR MONEY. if they didn't have advertising revenue from your company, et al, they wouldn't be in business (or else they'd be forced to markedly change their business model). So, as nice as it is that you can SAY you aren't complicit, the FACT is you are FUNDING THEM to make that kind of insidious and disgusting comment that trivializes not only the sacrifices of our troops, but of the valiant men and women that lost their lives on 9/11.
AS OF RIGHT NOW, you find it PERFECTLY FINE that they said this. Additionally, AS OF RIGHT NOW, you will CONTINUE to give them money so that they can advocate this type of horrifying, violent action against innocent citizens of this country. AS OF RIGHT NOW, you are COMPLICIT in this statement because your MONEY made it possible for them to broadcast it.
please don't play ignorant or stupid with me. and please don't assume i am either of those two. Saying you purchased the time and aren't responsible for the content of the program and/or network is greedy, callous, and TREMENDOUSLY irresponsible.. It also demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how television, advertising, and the media work as a whole.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when Olive Garden pulled their advertising from the David Letterman show because of a joke he made?? Taking away a network (or program) that's gone too far's funding is actually the ONLY way to effect them.
My request wasn't that you go back in time and prevent yourself from funding fox news last night (as if i thought you paid minutes before an ad aired, - or, better yet, that they check what they say with all advertisers). My request was that THIS SPECIFIC INCIDENT should be MORE THAN ENOUGH to stop FUTURE funding.
i am a distraught and disgusted and no longer want anything to do with your company, unless you do SOMETHING more than feed me BS.
In addition, I find it incredible disingenuous (as well as ridiculous) to say
Given the wide diversity of media today and wider range of public opinion on any given issue, it would be an impossible task to find a major television network whose entire programming schedule appeals to all audiences. Bayer, like any advertiser who purchases large packages of advertising time, runs the risk of having an occasional ad run on a network that broadcasts programming that some might find offensive.
first, i dare you to find anyone who doesn't find what was said 2 days ago offensive. if there is ANYONE out there who think that a network that callously advocates a terrorist attack against it's own people SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE of advancing a political agenda ISN'T offensive, they deserve to be committed.
second, what you are essentially saying is that, due to the fact you advertise SO MUCH you are somehow not responsible for paying the programs you advertise on. IN addition to this, admitting you purchase such large blocks of advertising would indicate, to me, that you may be able to drop some (for the purposes of protecting your image as well as punishing the irresponsibility of a network that would allow this to air WITHOUT REPERCUSSION OR APOLOGY.
I hope you additionally understand that the reason they are NOT apologizing is because YOU, the greedy advertiser, has no intention of punishing them for irresponsibility.
You're hands are NOT clean.
I don't know how much clearer to say this:
Two Days Ago, You Paid Someone to Advocate a Terrorist Attack on the US for the Advancement of a Political Agenda.
YOU paid someone.
YOU.
while the network is ALSO responsible, stop feigning lack of influence/understanding/ability to correct what has been said.
Your attempt to placate me (with lies and BS) has only made my indignity and fervor stronger.
In making commercial buying decisions, we evaluate the size and composition of the estimated audience along with program content and our business needs. We also employ a program screening service and media buying service to assist us in making these decisions.
What this says to me is, very clearly, We don't care about advocating terrorist attacks on the US, so long as we reach a certain amount of potential buyers.
To reword that: All we care about is money.
Also, that the company you employ (if you actually even do such a thing- i can't find any indication that you do although google searches aren't that great) is very bad at what it does. also, i would like the name of any and all companies you employ for the purposes of "program screening" and "media buying"
We appreciate the opinions you have expressed and thank you for providing us
with an opportunity to respond. While there may always be reasonable
differences over what constitutes acceptable programming, we do try to exercise good judgment in selecting networks on which to advertise.
So, you are saying here that, as someone who lost people on 9/11, being upset that someone on fox news (who you give money to so they can remain on the air) advocating another 9/11 in order to push forward a more violent international agenda is just a reasonable difference we have? Are you honestly saying that you believe this kind of programming is acceptable??? and that you are exercising good judgement by doing so??
Because, I hope you understand, that by continuing to fund this kind of dangerous extremism you ARE saying that you don't find a problem with it, and, as such, you will continue to be complicit in it.
Again, after reading and re-reading the last statement over and over again I can only come to the conclusion that you:
1- think that you have exercised POOR judgement in selecting networks, but will continue to do so anyway because you care more about money than ethics and decency
OR
2- think that you have exercised GOOD judgement, and, thus, believe what was stated to be alright (and something you agree with and advocate)
I am waiting to hear back from them.
Wachovia - Wachovia has, almost definitely, given me the most thoughtful response I have gotten. For that I have to give them huge kudos (although I sincerely doubt anything will happen until a mass of us contacts them):
Thank you for contacting Wachovia. My name is ----- and I will be
addressing your concerns today.
I have received your e-mail regarding a comment made on a television
program. As a native New Yorker myself, I certainly understand your
concern and frustration in this matter. Thank you for bringing this
situation to our attention.
Wachovia does not target political programs of this nature for
advertising, nor will we do so in the future. Wachovia has not
purchased advertising in this particular program.
Wachovia's advertising is not meant to endorse the views or opinions of
the programs in which it appears. Our desire is to communicate about
Wachovia's financial services through vehicles that enable us to reach a
broad audience of potential and current customers. Our advertising is a
reflection of the media and time frames that our target audience is
viewing, and we have strict guidelines around content.
Your comments have been forwarded to our customer advocate group.
Again, we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
My response to Wachovia was a smaller version of my response to Bayer, just emphasizing the point that they are ultimately responsible for the content they pay to put on the air.
Dannon - The response I got from Dannon was also promising:
Thank you for contacting The Dannon Company regarding the television program Fox News in which our advertising appeared recently. I can assure you we share your concerns about the quality and appropriateness of programming. We do all that we can to ensure that it meets Dannon standards.
As you may know, companies like Dannon typically purchase advertising "rotations" throughout a network's or station's scheduled programming. And although we work diligently through our advertising agency to avoid inappropriate programming, on occasion our safeguards are inadequate. For us, that is an indication that we must redouble our efforts in this regard, and we will.
We are committed to participating in programs that reflect the high quality of our products. That is our directive to our advertising agency, and it is not negotiable.
Once again, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us on this important matter. You can be sure we value your comments and we hope in the future that we can count you as a consumer of Dannon products.
Mercedes-Benz - Their message back to me echoes the exact responses I had been getting yesterday:
Thank you for your letter.
When choosing a time slot or station for television advertisements (as with
any media), many factors are taken into consideration (i.e., demographic
appeal, etc.). While we recognize your concerns, we seek your understanding
that our placement of an advertisement is not an "endorsement" of a
specific program or station, since commercial advertisers do not control
the content or views of the programs during which they advertise.
Your taking the time to express your feelings is appreciated; your comments
will be shared with the appropriate individuals within our corporation.
My response to MB was the same as my response to Bayer, and so I will omit.
Target - Yet another company who tells me they will pass my concerns along to the advertising department. I intend on waiting 2-3 days on all of these companies, before i contact the advertising department directly
Thanks for taking the time to send us your e-mail.
We always appreciate the time our guests take to share their thoughts and comments with us. I'll pass along your comments to our advertising executives.
Thanks for writing us. Hearing your feedback helps us serve you better.
UBS - This response was almost as bad as Wal-Mart's yesterday (in that it was a complete non-answer):
Thank you for contacting the UBS Financial Services Inc. public Web
site.
At UBS, we continually enhance and improve our web site based on our
visitor's valuable feedback. Your thoughts and comments are important to
us and your correspondence has been passed along to the senior
management responsible for the site.
Thank you again for contacting us. We appreciate your comments and look
forward to having the opportunity to serve your investment needs.
Lowe's - Lowe's, like a couple of other companies, claim they hire other people to invest their advertising dollars, and, thus, aren't responsible:
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns regarding our recent television advertising.
As a major retailer, Lowe’s constantly evaluates our advertising strategy, and strives to use our advertising dollars wisely to reach home improvement and business customers cost-effectively. To help us determine advertising placement, we rely on independent, third party audience measurement services to objectively analyze media readership and viewership.
Typically, Lowe’s places advertising on television and radio, in local newspapers and on the Internet. As an advertiser, we have no control over the content of publications or broadcast programming.
We appreciate your feedback and want you to know that we take your comments seriously. I have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate personnel in our advertising department for review.
If Lowe’s can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to write or call us. Again, thanks for your time and understanding.
I am not holding my breath for senior management to get back to me, but, if they do not, I will contact them directly (as i will for advertising departments)
My response to Lowe's was the following:
I would like to know 2 things, as a follow up
1- Who is responsible for where lowe's advertises. Please give me a list of all of the companies you employ for those purposes.
2- It is very, very irresponsible to say that you are not ultimately responsible because you PAY someone to pick where you advertise. It is not the company you hire who's name is out there on the product, it is yours. Additionally, it is YOUR money that is paying fox news, correct? You are paying a 3rd party to decide where to soundly invest YOUR money. Which means, as much parsing and shirking responsibility as you would like to attempt, it is very clear that, ultimately, the buck stops with you.
Additionally, I hope you realize that, by continuing to employ both this company (these companies) and give money to fox news to keep broadcasting , you are saying you don't mind (and, are in fact giving tacit approval to) the content that was broadcast 2 days ago, advocating a major terrorist attack on the US for the purposes of advancing a political agenda.
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One of the new developments today, and one I am excited to dig into, is the emergence of "3rd party companies" who are paid by these major corporations to decide where and when to pay to place their advertising.
Contacting THESE companies, as well as the major corporations, and demanding that they, too, stop advertising on faux news will take us one step closer to our goal.
I will update this diary constantly throughout the day, and post up any new information I have (as well as contact information for any 3rd party companies).
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Update #1 - Subaru - another case of passing the messgage on.
Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us with your feedback.
I have forwarded your message to the Marketing Department for their review, to consider when planning future promotions.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.
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Update #2 - thanks to the great insight of many of you over the last couple of days, I have changed the initial template email sent to companies to the following:
I would like to request, after what was stated on Glenn Beck's Program on 6/30/09, that you cease your advertising on the Fox News Channel. My family and I will not buy any of your products and services, or products and services from any of your parent or subsidiary companies, until you do.
In case you weren't aware, this is a direct quote from the show, in which a terrorist attack is wished upon the US in order to advance a violent political agenda:
"the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States... Again, only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them effectively, consistently, and with as much violence as necessary."
here is a video of the exchange so you can see for yourself - http://www.youtube.com/...
there has been no rebuke, and no apology from anyone at or related to fox news for one of the most horrifying things i have ever heard someone say on TV (especially as a native NYer who lost 2 close friends on 9/11). Only actions taken by those who fund fox news (it's advertisers) can stop this kind of terrifying rhetoric from appearing on the channel again.
I appreciate that your goal is to advertise to the right audience, but I would sincerely hope that this kind of speech is something your company does not condone, and will try to distance itself from. There are many other avenues for broadcasting that will not tie you to this kind of madness.
have a good day and thank you for your time.
sincerely,
<my name>
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BIG UPDATE #3-
First off, Thank you to Omir the Storyteller for adding the twitter aspect to this-
Help me target advertisers supporting terrorist attacks on America! http://tr.im/... #boycottfoxnews Pls RT
is what i posted on my first-time-used twitter account. please retweet (i never thought i would ever say anything close to that).
Second of all, Here are the companies I have contacted this afternoon:
Scrubbing Bubbles / SC Johnson
Hefty / Pactiv
Nissan
Nationwide Insurance
National Collecter's Mint
Napster
Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney
Lunesta / Sepracor
Lipitor / Pfizer
Lincoln-Mercury / Ford
Liberty Mutual
Lexus
LL Bean
Finish Turbo Dry (While the comment section doesn't have a scroll bar, and it looks like it only has a 200 character or so limit, the entirely of your message IS there, and will be sent)
Jeep / Daimler-Chrysler
Infiniti
Hyatt
Third of all, I got a second reply from Sprint/Nextel:
Thank you for contacting Sprint. I understand your frustration and
appreciate the opportunity to resolve your issue.
I'm sorry for any grief this situation may have caused you. I have
forwarded your letter to my supervisor in hopes that it can be
escalated. Sprint in no way supports terrorism and we buy advertising
for that purpose only, advertising. We do not endorse the views aired on
television as they are the views solely of the those who voice them.
Yes, our advertising money is paid to the broadcast network, however,
our money does not specifically fund any specific correspondent.
Unfortunately, we will not stop advertising in markets that we find
affective and any concerns you have with guest speakers or talk show
personalities needs to be voiced to the network on which they appear.
Additionally, we aim to please as many demographics as possible, that
includes the 12-35 age range as well as any age range above it. I'm
sorry for any further dismay that this may cause you.
We value your business and appreciate the opportunity to serve you.
Please reply to this email or visit Sprint.com/mysprint if we can be of
further assistance.
Kind of snarky, but so was I.
Also, right after i typed the closing statement, I got a message back from Chrysler- it is, yet another, "we're gonna pass this along, but oh my god you are awesome and special and we love you" responses:
Thank you for contacting the Chrysler Customer Assistance Center.
We value your feedback received in regard to our television advertising.
In response to your email, we would like to inform you that your opinion
is very important and provides valuable input in determining what types
of advertising will be created in the future and where advertising
dollars should be spent.
We understand and value your concern with this advertising and
appreciate the time you took to let us know. Your dissatisfaction has
been noted. When issues of this nature are brought to our attention,
they are investigated by our marketing and communications group and
addressed in an appropriate way.
If we can be of any assistance to you in the future, please feel free to
contact us.
Thanks again for your email.
Now, it is time to cook a nice long dinner to get my mind off of all of this. Keep up the action, folks!!!
