Glen Beck continues to lose advertisers...

[ytowndan]

During Beck's program, Fox has now lost 33 advertisers and counting now...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_beck_s_advertisers

NEW YORK – Glenn Beck returns to Fox News Channel on Monday after a vacation with fewer companies willing to advertise on his show than when he left, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist.

A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That's more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.

While it's unclear what effect, if any, this will ultimately have on Fox and Beck, it is already making advertisers skittish about hawking their wares within the most opinionated cable TV shows.

The Clorox Co., a former Beck advertiser, now says that "we do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts." The maker of bleach and household cleaners said in a statement that it has decided not to advertise on political talk shows.

The shows present a dilemma for advertisers, who usually like a "safe" environment for their messages. The Olbermanns, Hannitys, O'Reillys, Maddows and Becks of the TV world are more likely to say something that will anger a viewer, who might take it out on sponsors.

They also host the most-watched programs on their networks.

"This is a good illustration of that conundrum," said Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, which he said has temporarily halted buying ads on Fox News Channel as a whole.

Beck can bring the eyeballs. With the health care debate raising political temperatures, his show had its biggest week ever right before his vacation, averaging 2.4 million viewers each day, according to Nielsen Media Research.

He was actually on another Fox show July 28 when he referred to Obama as a racist with "a deep-seated hatred for white people." The network immediately distanced itself from Beck's statement, but Beck didn't. He used his radio show the next day to explain why he believed that. He would not comment for this article, spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said.

ColorofChange.org quickly targeted companies whose ads had appeared during Beck's show, telling them what he had said and seeking a commitment to drop him. The goal is to make Beck a liability, said James Rucker, the organization's executive director.

"They have a toxic asset," Rucker said. "They can either clean it up or get rid of it."

It's not immediately clear how many of the companies actually knew they were advertising on Beck's show. Sometimes commercial time is chosen for a specific show, but often it is bought on a rotation basis, meaning the network sprinkles the ads throughout the day on its own schedule. Sometimes ads appear by mistake; Best Buy said it bought commercial time for earlier in the day, and one of its ads unexpectedly appeared in Beck's show.

One company, CVS Caremark, said it advertises on Fox but hadn't said anything about Beck. Now it has told its advertising agency to inform Fox that it wanted no commercials on Beck.

"We support vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans, but we expect it to be informed, inclusive and respectful," said spokeswoman Carolyn Castel.

Besides the unpredictability of the opinionated cable hosts, the rapid pace of today's wired world complicates decisions on where to place ads, said Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokeswoman for Sprint. She said she was surprised at how fast the Beck issue spread across social media outlets and how quickly advertiser names were attached to it.

UPS' Hallabran said the decision to pull commercials "should not be interpreted as we are permanently withdrawing our advertising from Fox." He said the company wants to reach viewers with a wide spectrum of opinions.

Except for UPS Stores, there's no evidence that any advertisers who say they don't want to be on Beck's show are leaving Fox. Network spokeswoman Irena Briganti said the companies have simply requested the ads be moved elsewhere and that Fox hasn't lost any revenue.

She wouldn't say whether Fox was benefiting from any anti-anti-Beck backlash, with companies looking to support him. Some Beck supporters have urged fans to express their displeasure at companies for abandoning their man.

Beck supporters have suggested that retaliation might have something to do with ColorofChange.org's campaign. One of the group's founders, Van Jones, now works in the Obama administration and has been criticized by Beck. But Rucker said Jones has nothing to do with ColorofChange.org now and didn't even know about the campaign before it started.

Beck's strong ratings — even at 5 p.m. EDT he often outdraws whatever CNN and MSNBC show in prime-time — make it unlikely Beck is going anywhere even as the list of advertisers avoiding him approaches three dozen.

But it could mean advertising time becomes cheaper on his show than such a large audience would normally command. Some of his show's advertisers last week included a male enhancement pill, a law firm looking to sue on behalf of asbestos victims, a company selling medical supplies to diabetics and a water filter company.

Rucker said ColorofChange.org has contacted about 60 companies regarding Beck, and is heartened by the response.

"It's causing a certain conversation around Beck, which I think is important," he said.

This guy is a joke.  They really need to get rid of him. 

[postjack]

interesting.  IMO all tv news commentators are a joke except for Jon Stewart.  I spent over a decade trying to find a cable news personality I like.  I finally switched off TV news altogether last Fall. print/Internet media is enough for me, with a sprinkling of NPR.

[inourdr]

Glan Beck...  :shakehead: :crazy: :shakehead: :crazy:

[nab]

Personalities like Beck and Olbermann should be viewed as subjective, partisan, entertainers of news items.  Unfortunately, most people take the commentary of their ideological demagogue of choice as gospel as opposed to entertainment.  I find that listening to both entertainers can be enlightening, though nothing is a substitute for hard core fact finding on the internet; though where you get your news there can also influence your opinion. 

Calling an entertainer dangerous says more about the person who is wagging the finger than the entertainer.  These personalities are working through opposing ideologies in the American public.  Neither side wants to have a real debate about empirical facts relating to any issue since it is easier to stand on subjective boxes and spew hate speech.   

[gah]

Speaking of entertaining news folks, did you hear the space shuttle is taking a treadmill named after Colbert?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/colbert-treadmill-nasa-na_n_187081.html

But I agree with nab, that too often people use these guys as their sole source of news, which it is not. It's a form of entertainment with politics as the subject of humor. And although I do enjoy watching the Olbermann and Maddows shows on occasion, i realize just how loony and leftist they sound to those on the right, the way I can get a  good laugh at those on Fox.

[guyforget]

i love olbermann

but he's not where i get "news." just like how some people like csi, i like to listen to him make fun of people whom i mostly feel deserve being made fun of.  i know plenty of liberals who hate keith olbermann's tv program, even if they agree w/ him in terms of ideals. 

i guess im just liberal and cynical enough to enjoy it. 

[rowjimmy]

i love olbermann

but he's not where i get "news." just like how some people like csi, i like to listen to him make fun of people whom i mostly feel deserve being made fun of.  i know plenty of liberals who hate keith olbermann's tv program, even if they agree w/ him in terms of ideals. 

i guess im just liberal and cynical enough to enjoy it.

This.

Although Olbermann does, occasionally point me to a source of useful, factual information. He's usually just loosely parsed said source on his show and I have to go looking for the full story.

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Olbermann often turns me off.  Especially with his "worst person ever".

I think a lot of the reason I get turned off by him, because I feel as if his target audience is ignorantly hypocritical.  That could all be my perception and not reality, however.

[guyforget]

I hope Im not ignorantly hypocritical.  But I think that to truly fit the description, one would have to never know that about oneself.  So maybe Im fucked? 

You know what they say about ignorance being bliss and all that... 

I dont really care for the rest of the MSNBC commentary people, I dont know who I dislike more - that new Ed guy or Chris Matthews.  Maddow isnt horrible. 

[Hicks]

I'm a card carrying member of the choir, so I have little use for Olbermann's preaching.

Glen Beck is just a ringleader of imbeciles.   

Unfortunately the ring is quite large.

[nab]

I'm a card carrying member of the choir, so I have little use for Olbermann's preaching.

Glen Beck is just a ringleader of imbeciles.   

Unfortunately the ring is quite large.

:lol:

They're card carrying members as well.


Palin types.




But seriously, the whole liberal/conservative paradigm needs to be erased before we get any real political discourse in this country; after we tear down the media/military industrial complex/Neo-Con thing that is. :evil:

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

I hope Im not ignorantly hypocritical.  But I think that to truly fit the description, one would have to never know that about oneself.  So maybe Im fucked? 

You know what they say about ignorance being bliss and all that... 

I dont really care for the rest of the MSNBC commentary people, I dont know who I dislike more - that new Ed guy or Chris Matthews.  Maddow isnt horrible.

No offense intended Guy Forget.  What I mean, is that the type of people who I personally associate with the type of politics expoused by Mr. Olbermann and the way he presents his points, is the type of person who feels as though her liberal beliefs make her morally superior to others, regardless of what actions she actually takes.

I don't really know how to explain what I mean...

But to me, Glenn Beck and Olbermann are almost equivalent.

Like I said before, that's just like my opinion man, and may have no basis in reality.



Edit:  It came like a flash of brilliance.  I think that Olberrman expouses an "Us Vs. Them" mentality which is diamettrically opposed to some of the inclusive politics which he expouses.  I don't like it when anyone in the political arena expouses an "Us vs. Them" mentality because at heart I am an idealist and we all should be "Us" and there should be no "Them".

[guyforget]

No offense intended Guy Forget.  What I mean, is that the type of people who I personally associate with the type of politics expoused by Mr. Olbermann and the way he presents his points, is the type of person who feels as though her liberal beliefs make her morally superior to others, regardless of what actions she actually takes.

I understand what youre saying.  Also, my remark was tongue-in-cheek and not intended to imply that you were implying anything about me. 

While I may diatribe every now and then, mostly whilst drunken, I do try to live with a higher standard of compassion and understanding of my fellow citizens.  Certainly everyone has found themselves in a "pot-calling-the-kettle-black" situation, but theres also merit in being able to acknowledge it to yourself upon later reflection.  Ego can be a bitch... 

LSD helps. 

Or helped, as its been since Coventry since I got dosed. 

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

Oh yeah totally.

I'm sure that you are watching him for the right reasons...the thing that upsets me is that I'm sure there are liberal fan boyz and girlz that watch him and are like "he is right, and everyone that doesn't agree with him is wrong wrong wrong"...and don't know any better.

For some people I think his comedy is akin to blowing off steam at frustrations they have with society in general.  Others I think take it more seriously than that.

It's the people that take him too seriously that I worry about when watching.

Also, it always pisses me off when he does that "worse person ever" because to me the "worse person ever" is probably someone more akin to Hannibal the Cannibal and not whoever the conservative douchebag or bad corporation of the day is.

[postjack]

even though my politics tend more towards the MSNBC side, and even though I know in my head that cable news commentators are entertainment and not truly news, I still can't watch one of them, even one I agree with, because I know so much of America considers said commentators news. i believe the "dialogue" these egos initiate is misdirection, and harmful to the country.  Like an earlier poster said, I think the entire political identification movement is hurtful and distracting.