First reactions from Letterman Sponsors (Palin Ping! - No.23 - June 11, 2009)

Various | June 10, 2009 | Me

[SolidWood]

Developments and Updates regarding Letterman Advertisers:

First a recommendation for further info:

Conservatives4Palin updates on Letterman row - Has the contact information for writing and calling CBS staff

Hillbuzz on how to target sponsors (a bit very wordy at the beginning, essentially makes the point to target three big advertisers with an „image interest“)

Hillbuzz updates on Letterman advertisers

FR thread with CBS advertisers contact info

File an online complaint with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) with the point of obscenity

...

First reactions from sponsors:

Some 'minor' sponsors are distancing themselves from Letterman and claim not to be his (direct) sponsors. Ancestry.com has claimed innocence, and Best Western and LiveLock claim to be randomly allocated to Letterman by CBS. They are CBS sponsors however, and their dissociation with Letterman's show might be just to stave off criticism. Those like LiveLock are CBS sponsors who are (probably randomly by CBS) placed with Letterman. So writing them gets the message across.

Hillbuzz thinks that three sponsors should be the focus : M&M, Best Western, Embassy Suites

(I think we should also write the others.)

LiveLock says

At no time has LifeLock ever sponsored David Letterman or any other national CBS talk show. It is possible, however, that depending on where you live that your local station inserted one of our advertisements into an open slot. We have no control what these stations do with the open slot or where the station places our approved advertisement.

We appreciate your email and assure you again, that we have no affiliation with Mr. Letterman’s show.

Ancestry.com

From: Ancestry.com Media Relations [mailto:mediarelations@ancestry.com] Thank you for bringing this important matter to our attention. I can confirm to you that Ancestry.com is not an advertiser or sponsor of the CBS Late Show with David Letterman. It is unclear how the company’s name ended up on this list, but it appears to be a mistake. I wanted to respond to you personally to clarify the situation.

Thanks,

Public Relations Director

Ancestry.com

...

The first ones are obviously getting uncomfortable with being associated with Letterman. Keep up the pressure! (See above linked FR thread on a list of advertisers. Note post #12 with more of them.)

...

UPDATE via HillBuzz:

 Our advice is to focus on three advertisers:  

(1) M&M Mars

(2) Best Western

(3)Embassy Suites

Reason:  remember when Michael Phelps was caught with his marijuana bong?  Kellogg’s cereal dropped him like a hot potato because its brand image is child-focused for most of its products.  Speedo won’t ever drop Phelps, no matter what he does, but we doubt he’ll ever have his face on a McDonald’s happy meal again either. 

No candy company will want to be associate with raping 14 year-olds.  And hotel companies are ALWAYS terrified of being associated with rape (which, sadly, happens at hotels more than the casual traveler realizes…with hotels spending a lot of money in PR to mitigate exposure whenever violent criminal acts like that happen on their premises).  Lexus, Capitol One, and the other advertisers might not like being harassed because of their support for Letterman and his misogynistic jokes, but we doubt they’ll drop him because his demographics are too enticing.  

BUT, a concerted effort directed at M&M Mars, Best Western, and Embassy Suites could be interesting.  “M&Ms: the candy for people who think rape is super fun!”

“Stay at Best Western so you can stay up late and watch jokes about rape!”

“Embassy Suites: the place you go to watch CBS talk about raping 14 year-olds!”

Now, those should have brand managers racing for the phone if a focus and spirited effort is directed at hammering them each and every day until their ads stop appearing on Letterman’s show and website. 

In this economy, a loss of three big advertisers like that will indeed be noticed by CBS.

UPDATE #2:

  Some advertisers, such as Best Western, are claiming they do not advertise on Late Night with David Letterman.  This is apocryphal:  Best Western buys banner ad space on CBS.com, and these ads appear on CBS.com when you click on the David Letterman page on that site.  Best Western, Aerosoles, Paramount’s new Star Trek movie, and other banner ads pop up on every page of David Letterman’s site.  This is paid advertising Best Western and these other companies CHOOSE to buy from CBS. 

If you are an advertiser upset people who despise rape and refuse to allow Letterman to get away with promoting the rape of minors in New York, then you need to get on the phone to your ad buy account execs and yank your web ads from CBS.com. 

No one believes you do not have the power to do this.  If Best Western has agents who can post here, then you have agents who can call your advertising firms and stop giving your money to CBS and David Letterman.

...

Per Conservatives4Palin comes this information:

Response by local CBS affiliate in Anchorage:

I want to thank you for taking the time to write regarding the recent comments about Sarah Palin and her family on The David Letterman Show. I want to let you know that KTVA does not condone this type of treatment of a minor. While our Governor may be a controversial figure, her minor daughter is not. In my opinion this crosses the line and have registered my complaint with CBS corporate management. While I understand from CBS and David Letterman that there has been some confusion regarding which daughter he was referring to, the responsibility rests with them to make this clear. As the General Manager I regret that this content regarding a minor aired on our station. We are previewing tonight's Letterman Show to see if there is a repeat instance of this content. If there is, we will not air another sexually derogatory reference about a Palin minor. I also encourage our viewers to register their sentiments on this matter. CBS maintains an Audience Services telephone number for these types of issues. That number is 1-212-975-3247. I will also be forwarding every email I receive regarding this matter to CBS.

Regards, Jerry Bever

Jerry Bever Vice President/General Manager KTVA-TV Alaska Broadcasting Company, Inc. Phone: 907-646-2128 Fax: 907-646-2188 Email: jbever@ktva.com

Take his advice. Call CBS at 212-975-3247. Melt their phones.

Also contact:

Write the GOP/RNC to grow some spine and react to these slurs (Chairman@gop.com; Info@gop.com; MemberRelations@gop.com)

Write Glenn Beck and Hannity to cover extensively this issue (Greta does):

glennbeck@foxnews.com

Hannity@foxnews.com

[SolidWood]

Because there was a flood of threads on Letterman's slurs in the last two days, which were already pinged to and generated already over 15,000 hits (!), I won't link them again.

So far Todd and Sarah have responded by calling out Letterman on his perverted, disgusting "humor" and pedophile suggestions, while Letterman has given a lame non-apology which even furthered the smears against Willow and Bristol.

CBS and it's sponsors need to feel the heat. Our messages are creating first reactions. Keep up the pressure. Several hundred Freepers plus thousands of other folks from TeamSarah, C4P and other Conservative venues can make an effect.

[SolidWood]

Palin PING! - No.23 - June 11, 2009

Anyone on or off the Palin ping, write me.

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

I have contacted my local CBS station, waiting for a reply.

WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio

[bmwcyle]

You might want to get back to LifeLock and tell them to pull all ads with CBS locals.

[SolidWood]

Thank you. It is important to share these information with non-Freeper relatives and friends. There are certainly countless folks who would do their part, but who aren’t in the know.

[SolidWood]

Yes, exactly. They try to defend themselves by saying that they just advertise for CBS, not Letterman specifically and that CBS is placing them with him. That doesn’t cut it!

[AlexW]

Bever, with the CBS station in Alaska, seems to think it would have been OK if it had been Sarah or the older daughter.

[Chief Engineer]

Networks sell advertising using several categories. The most expensive is fixed position, that is they buy time in a specific show.

Another category is by daypart. The commercial can run anytime between specific times.

The least expensive is what is called “run of schedule. The network can place the commercial anywhere it wants.

Only in the first instance can the advertiser be considered to sponsor a given show. Advertisers can, in some instances, if the network is cooperative, specify a program which they do not want their advertisement to appear.

We have to be careful in assigning blame.

[Texas Fossil]

I phoned Best Western yesterday afternoon and spent a long time on the phone with a series of “Supervisors”. Went through Customers Service and they transferred me to “someone appropriate”.

They told me that they do not “directly” sponsor Letterman, as was stated.

The reason I chose to phone them was I was a long term customer. Traveled the Mid-West and West for 30 years in outside sales and sales management. Stayed often at Best Westerns.

I complemented them on the type of company they are and that this is damaging to their brand image if they are associated with Letterman. And that if I can identify them as a Letterman sponsor (directly or indirectly) then others can also.

The “marketing” types is where this will be resolved, and they will never tell you that they are afraid or displeased with the association with such a vile cretin.

I think my call content was pushed up the line, but am not totally sure. I do not believe any of the people I spoke with had a clue about what happened before I spoke with them.

[SolidWood]

The protest should hit CBS, which is the place where the buck stops.

Since these companies are advertisers for CBS, it is secondary whether they are specific sponsors of Letterman. As you say they are being allocated to him, and thus can demand to be dissociated from his show.

Protesting to these companies that use this "run of schedule" advertising, targets CBS and signals the companies to dissociate themselves from Letterman's show (which they can do anytime).

[SolidWood]

They told me that they do not “directly” sponsor Letterman, as was stated.

That's their line of defense. They are CBS advertisers and placed with Letterman by CBS. They could demand to be dissociated from his show (if not CBS itself). The defense doesn't cut.

[Chief Engineer]

On the same subject, a distinction has to be made between national commercials and local commercials.

The block of advertisements just before the top of the hour are all Local commercials, sold by and run by the television station you are watching.

During the show itself, the commercial blocks are shared by the network and the local station.

The first 1:30 or 2 minutes are network commercials. The rest of the 4:00 minute commercial block are local commercials.

Incidentally, the same rules apply as above. Local stations follow the same general rules for commercial placement and the resulting costs as the network

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

I am not encouraging anyone to rough somebody up or break any bones. I strongly discourage violence. Do not use violence.

but I wonder if David Letterman and also some of these low level bloggers who file bogus ethics complaints...I wonder if they had the threat of getting their teeth knocked out and having gravel stuffed down their throat.. I wonder if any of this maddness would end if they had to worry about their safety everyday.

Where I come from, we protect women. If that were my wife or one of my daughters, somebody would be coughing up gravel and blood.

[miele man]

Thank you very, very much for posting this information!

[SolidWood]

Chivalry is gone from this country. Back then there were dignified duels to gain "satisfication" in cases of violated honor. I don't say that we should reintroduce duels... but the spirit of defending honor certainly should return.

Interestingly enough Alaska, along with several other states has no statutory dueling prohibition.

Duels in the United States

Famous American duels

[Thrownatbirth]

This sponsor is in my wheelhouse. Fire away!

Mars, Incorporated
6885 Elm St.
McLean, VA 22101
VA Tel. 703-821-4900
Fax 703-448-9678

[SolidWood]

meant “satisfaction”...

[Texas Fossil]

I know, but the response that I got does not mean they are not sensitive to this.

They will not show they are concerned with the impact of this, but they are. This is basically a good company, and I know they do not want to be associated with this.

Enough complaints will have an effect.

[Chong]

LOL!!!!!!!
(No wonder letterman is soooo angry, HEH!) A good one!

[doosee]

I sent emails to Mars and Lexus and so far received Reply Acknowledgements. Letterman the perverted scum needs to go.