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.
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.
It might be worth contacting targeted businesses via shareholder relations.