Tally Of Advertisers In Rush Limbaugh Exodus Climbs To 20

Business Insider ^ | 03/06/2012 | Laura Stampler

[SeekAndFind]

According to a series of advertisers' Twitter and Facebook statements, at least 20 different sponsors have now pulled their spots from Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

In case you're new to the kerfuffle—welcome out of hibernation!—advertisers began dropping like flies after Limbaugh called a Georgetown law student and women's rights activist a "slut" and a "prostitute" for supporting healthcare coverage for contraception.

Sleep Number and The Sleep Train, both mattress suppliers, were the first two advertisers to pull their ads Friday, and the numbers have grown tenfold since then.

Media Matters has been regularly updating a list of advertisers that have been dropped (or aired) ads on Limbaugh's show.

On Tuesday, Bare Escentuals, Sensa Weight Loss program, Hadeed Carpet, Thompson Creek Windows, Vitacost, AccuQuote Life insurance, and Polycom all joined the Exodus.

Two local radio stations have also stopped running Limbaugh's show.

But some advertisers are finding it difficult to pull their ads, even if they disagree with Limbaugh's statements, because they bought package deals with the network. This means that their ads aren't specifically intended to air during Limbaugh's show.

Amberen, a menopause medication, explained the difficulty on its Facebook page:

"We understand that some of our customers are concerned that Amberen ads are still airing on the Rush Limbaugh show. Lunada Biomedical assures you that we take these concerns to heart! Most of our employees, including the CEO, are female. And like millions of other Americans we were outraged by Rush Limbaugh's incendiary and offensive comments. However, we are a small company that buys remnant (leftover) media time and, as such, we cannot, by definition, be considered the ‘sponsors’ of Mr. Limbaugh's show.”

[Jrabbit]

Sears and Netflix said they don’t advertise on Rushs’ show.....why are people cancelling service with them?

[daler]

You would think that a high-profile show such as Rush's would require iron-clad, long-term contracts from its advertisers.

How can an advertiser just "up and quit?"

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, unless they're pulling their advertising but are still legally obligated to pay for the balance of their contractual period.

BTW, I can't even cancel my Carbonite service until November; I'm "under contract."

[who knows what evil?]

Spray and pray...woo-hoo! s/

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Sears and Netflix said they don’t advertise on Rush’s show.....why are people cancelling service with them?

Well, if Sears and Netflix start to lose significant business because conservatives are cancelling service with them, can they SUE MEDIA MATTERS for putting their names on their list when they don’t in fact advertise on Rush’s show?

[SuziQ]

Yeah, to me this is a sign that the left is very organized and was ready to mobilize quick to campaign to those advertisers. Why does it not seem like our side is organized enough to respond in kind?

Because they've been sitting on ready to pounce on Limbaugh the first chance they got. I believe the MSM has been working with the Obama administration for months on this, to be ready when Obama came out with the HHS mandate, and picked his fight with the Catholic Church.

And this is something to mention, if we contact any of these companies. The woman who made her statements to the Democrats, because it wasn't a Congressional hearing, began attending Georgetown only a couple of months ago, and went to the school expressly to start agitating against their policy NOT to provide contraception to students through their health insurance plan. She is a Reproductive Rights Activist, and that is the group for which she was making her statement the other day. She is trying to force Georgetown to provide contraceptives, and so is thrilled about the HHS mandate.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I don't know the numbers count on the enemy out there, but they are organized and they work like beavers.

Sandra Fluke and her friends are certainly working like beavers. Or just working their beavers. Or....whatever.

[texteacher]

I called Netflix. The representative indicated that they were receiving customer feedback before making a decision. I indicated that if Netflix did cancel their adverts on Rush, I would cancel Netflix.
Seriously, I have never heard a Netflix ad during Rush, but I listen to Rush while in and out of the car.

[SeekAndFind]

Companies like Netflix and Sears are in a no-win situation here.

With both sides threatening companies who either advertise or pull their advertisement, I am not sure how companies like these should react.

All I can say is the solution to speech you don’t like is not to stifle the other side with threats but to AIR MORE SPEECH.

In a free country, you fight speech with more speech, not threats.

[mt. shavano]

I received an email from Shari’s Berries today. Below is my reply.

Dear Shari’s Berries-

Thank you for the offer to purchase your berries at a reduced price. However, rather than buying things for myself, I now demand companies provide me their products at no cost. Please send me one dozen of your gormet fancy berries each month free of charge. You can simply have your other customers foot the bill.

Since you ended your advertising relationship with the Excellence in Broadcasting Network to show your support for a woman making similar demands, I’m certain you’ll jump at the chance to provide me with this free benefit.

Warmest regards,

mt. shavano

[Nip]

The nicest thing to see is the price of stock for all publicly traded companies prior to dropping Rush and after dropping Rush.

Weekly updates would be nice too.

The same thing goes for the radio stations - per share of the listening market before and after.

IMHO the resulting numbers would clearly make the case that any company wanting to succeed must advertise on conservative shows to achieve and maintain any kind of market share.

[mtnwmn]

Then we should support him!!

[Mozilla]

It is time to take a stand for Rush, conservatism, America and free speech. Mostly what is ticking off is all the crap the left spews and the same losers attack Rush for one comments. Hypocritical idiots.
Mike Malloy just insulted tornado victims. So I send some of his advertisers a word about it.

[SicktoDeathofLibs]

I just had a long conversation with a Netflix customer service rep. Her initial canned response was that Netflix doesn’t advertise with Rush in the first place, because their policy is to stay politically neutral in all things (including ad placements). I told her I was looking right at a Media Matters webpage which claimed that Netflix had dropped Rush just today - and shouldn’t they be concerned about such blatant misstatements about their company? I further told her that it was starting to go viral all over the internet that Netflix has dropped Rush, and that 20 million Rush listeners would be canceling the instant they heard this. She told me they’d been blasted with calls since yesterday (mostly asking them to “stand with women,”) and that their PR people were working up an answer to make public. She repeated that Netflix was very neutral politically and I responded that if they keep it that way in their response to the public this would all blow over for them. If not...have a look at Carbonite’s stock price today for a glimpse of the future.

Conversation over, right? Wrong. She then said that as a woman she really had a problem with what Rush had said! I explained how this whole thing was a set-up and I walked her through every bit of the timeline, starting with Obama’s dictatorial “healthcare” mandate to religious organizations, followed by the fake “hearing” featuring the Leftist activist, Ms. Fluke, and concluding with the manufactured “firestorm” with which we’re all now embroiled. She argued with me (nicely - and I was nice too) every step of the way that this was all about women’s health. I took the last word by pointing out that for a huge bulk of their customers, the issue was First Amendment freedoms and the (still) largely conservative principals of this country - which means, for Netflix...this is really about customer retention.

In the course of our conversation, she gave me the email to their PR department: pr@netflix.com. Contact them.

It’s surreal to be having conversations like this with vendors. It really is...

[CodeToad]

And the tally of lost money spent on those avertisers probably exceeds $200 million.

[Osage Orange]

Sent an e-mail.....

Probably useless....

[Osage Orange]

Ha!!

[JTHomes]

Like DropSponsorsWhoDroppedRushLimbaugh on facebook

[Osage Orange]

Just e-mailed them..................

[DollyCali]

BTTT

[JediJones]

Here’s my letter to Netflix...

Subject: Stand with Rush

Dear Netflix,

It is disgraceful to hear about companies abandoning their advertising to Rush Limbaugh customers over one incident of him using language that was offensive to some, which he later apologized for. Rush was trying to use exaggeration to illustrate an important point. He was not trying to directly insult anyone. I am not even a regular Rush listener, but he is one person among many who is trying to fight to preserve our constitutional rights and freedoms against an increasingly oppressive and power-hungry government. Politicians in Washington D.C. have for far too long been nurturing an “entitlement culture” based on giving “free stuff” to people, especially to specific demographic groups that they want to get votes from. This cycle of corruption is driving our country deeply into debt and leading us closer to a grave economic collapse, the kind that Europe has recently proven modern, Western countries are not immune to.

If your company was going to be proactive about something, I wish it would be about a vital issue our country is facing that can affect all of our daily lives, not about one broadcaster making a clumsy verbal gaffe. The “entitlement culture” that is now being expanded into the realm of contraception is one of those vital issues. There is no legitimate reason that my money should have to go to support someone else’s contraception if I don’t use it or believe in it, whether is is through my taxes or my insurance premiums. There is likewise no legitimate reason that if I own a company or organization that I should be required to provide contraception free of charge to my customers. The government should not have the right to force companies to provide whatever benefits they demand, particularly when the item in question is used as part of a lifestyle that some of us choose not to participate in at all. This is a clear-cut case of the government trying to take away my right to buy the kind of insurance that I want. And I am far more concerned about my rights and my money being taken away by the government then by one man using a word that I never would have heard in the first place if I didn’t listen to his show and no one mentioned it.

I am currently seeking information as to which companies have stopped advertising on Rush’s show over this incident. I will not do business with any companies that have done so unless and until they reinstate the advertising.

Thank you.