October 7, 2009

80 Companies Join Boycott of Fox's Glenn Beck Show


Glenn Beck simply went too far. The Fox News host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

ColorOfChange.org called on its 600,000-plus members to sign a petition urging companies who advertise on Glenn Beck to cut off their advertising support of his work. Since then, more than 280,000 members have responded to the call by signing a petition directed at advertisers.

Today, we learned that another 19 companies agreed to join the boycott of the Beck Show. The impact continues to be felt by Glenn Beck as we now see 80 companies pulled their advertising from his show. These advertisers are:
  1. Aegon

  2. Airware

  3. Allergan (maker of Restasis)

  4. Ally Bank (a unit of GMAC Financial Services)

  5. AmMed Direct

  6. Ancestry.com

  7. Applebee's

  8. Ashley Furniture

  9. AT&T

  10. Bank of America

  11. Bell & Howell

  12. Best Buy

  13. Binder & Binder

  14. Blaine Labs

  15. Broadview Security

  16. Campbell Soup Company

  17. Capital One

  18. Citrix Online

  19. Clorox

  20. ConAgra

  21. Concord Music Group

  22. CVS

  23. The Dannon Company

  24. Diageo (a London-basd alcohol company that produces Guinness and Tanqeray)

  25. DirecTV

  26. Discover

  27. Ditech

  28. Eggland's Best

  29. The Elations Company

  30. Equifax

  31. Eulactol USA

  32. Experian

  33. Farmers Insurance

  34. GEICO

  35. General Mills

  36. GetARoom.com

  37. Hoffman La Roche (maker of Boniva)

  38. HSBC

  39. ICAN Benefit Group Insurance

  40. Infiniti

  41. Jelmar

  42. Johnson & Johnson

  43. Jordan McKenna Debt Counseling Network

  44. Kraft Foods

  45. Lawyers.com

  46. Lowe's

  47. Luxottica Retail (owner of LensCrafters and Pearle Vision)

  48. Men’s Wearhouse

  49. Mercedes-Benz

  50. Metropolitan Talent Management

  51. NutriSystem

  52. ooVoo

  53. Overture Films

  54. Procter & Gamble

  55. Progressive Insurance

  56. RadioShack

  57. Re-Bath

  58. Regions Financial Corporation

  59. SAM (Store and Move)

  60. Sanofi-Aventis

  61. Sargento

  62. SC Johnson

  63. Scarguard

  64. Schiff Nutrition

  65. Seoul Metropolitan Government

  66. Simplex Healthcare (creator of Diabetes Care Club)

  67. Sprint

  68. State Farm Insurance

  69. Subaru

  70. Toyota-Lexus

  71. Travelers Insurance

  72. Travelocity

  73. United States Postal Service

  74. The UPS Store

  75. Verizon Wireless

  76. Vonage

  77. Waitrose (a popular British supermarket chain)

  78. Wal-Mart

  79. Woodland Power Products

  80. Wyeth Consumer Healthcare

I suspect that Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the other wingnuts that mobilize and motivate the Republican Party will think twice before they go buckwild on the President of the United States in public.



17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, that is so good to see...
The one thing even FOX understands is $$$ and rating$$$. Hit them with a baseball bat where it hurts.

This is grass roots activism at its best.

BTW, I hope things are working out better for you, my brother. Saw the earlier post about how you goin' thru, and having been there myself just wanted you to know I'm thinking of and prahying for you.

Stay strong.

underOvr (aka The U) said...

Thanks for posting the ColorofChange.org URL.

The best method of countering misinformation, lies and allegations on Fox and Lou Dobbs is with advertising dollars.

Complaints to Fox and CNN mean little but loss of revenue means that cuts will be made. Those shows which don't bring in advertising dollars will be hit hardest.

U

Unknown said...

Keith - It's all good. I'm focused on other ways that I can share my passion of working to advance careers of African Americans in the IT industry from the classroom to the boardroom. If not thru BDPA ... then some other way.

Keith & The U - I signed the CoC online petition when it first came out ... and shared link to it in my 'Online Petition' widget in the blog's sidebar. However, I think that this is my first blog post on the topic. I think that CoC did the right thing by focusing on the advertisers. Nice to see so many of them deserting the Glen Beck ship...

msladyDeborah said...

Hotep Villager,

I signed the petition when I received in my e-mail. Beck has been having a field day and it was past due time for a response in my opinion. Maybe he can hear us now.

BLKSeaGoat said...

Wayne,

I found a story that actually sets the record straight about these so-called advertiser protests. I'm not giving any credit to any of these companies for doing the right thing because many of them never intended to purchase advertise or NEVER purchased advertising in the first place.

Read about it here.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=138461

BLKSeaGoat said...

The advertisers simply moved their ads to other shows and FOX has lost no money.

Don't you think 20 major advertisers jumping ship would have Rupert Murdoch pissing his pants? These companies are still supporting Beck, though not directly via his show. They have purchased time with Fox News.

Unknown said...

Lady D - It is nice to see continued online activism on issues that impact on the way our community is portrayed in the media. I'm proud to be part of the process ... and I hope to continue to keep my blog readers informed on stories/issues like this one in the coming weeks and months.

BlkSeaGoat - First, thank you for sharing the article on the advertisers. It does give a nuanced perspective on a handful of the 20 advertisers that pulled out from Glenn Beck show. The fact remains ... these 20 advertisers responded to outside pressure from groups like CoC ... and they took actions and made statements against the interests of Fox News & Glenn Beck. If the choice is online activism or 'do nothing' ... then I'm with the online activists.

What do you see as 'next steps' to punish Glenn Beck for his race-baiting comments?

BLKSeaGoat said...

Wayne,

Money talks and all else walks. These advertisers have done nothing but move their money around with the same company. I fail to see what CoC has done and why anyone thinks it's cause for celebration or notoriety.

Demand full divestiture of advertising dollars; otherwise you (by virtue of the patronage of the companies listed) are paying for Fox News to PAY for Glenn Beck.

Unknown said...

BlkSeaGoat - I read the article differently than you. Nothing in that article confirmed that all 20 companies on the list simply moved their money. In many cases the company did say that they stopped advertising on Fox News. In other words, I accept that it's not all one way or all the other way.

At the end of the day I'm appreciative for CoC and the other Black bloggers that have taken up the call to fight back against Beck's antics.

DNLee said...

this is exciting news. Glenn Beck is completely off of his rocker.

he almost sounds like one of those "let's get a race war started" crazies. Gullible people - often with guns - listen to this fool, and that other fool Rush Limbaugh, and get wriled up and ready to go.


Do be be bad-mouthing Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar!! Go Green!!!

Unknown said...

Danielle - It is nice to see online activism working in such a powerful and public manner. I'm proud of ColorOfChange for what they are doing .... and I'm glad that villagers are part of the solution...

Gunfighter said...

Especially Broadview security with their clearly racist message.

Please note that the people who are threatened by crime in their commercials are ALWAYS white women.

Unknown said...

Gunfighter - I think that I just now realized that Brink's no longer exists ... the company has been bought out by Broadview Security. I used to enjoy seeing the Brinks name in old movies ... including old westerns...

Glad the name won't be on current Glenn Beck shows!

DNLee said...

Glenn Beck is obviously out of his mind! He hates on AmeriCorps too - calling it some social change organization - like that's a bad thing. Wasn't that what the right was trying to do with it's "family values" movement. Now they are hating on the President's message to school age kids about education.

Gee whiz.

Unknown said...

Danielle - I wonder if those of us that didn't support the Bush/Cheney administration were as verbose about our hater-ism as Beck and his ilk have been with President Obama?

Michael Skarbinski said...

This is propaganda, Glenn was right to call President Obama a racist. In his commentary he pointed out where the President was calling others racist for exactly what he was doing as well. President Obama is a Progressive in the mold of a Fabian Socialist. He is trying to remove the Constitutional restrictions to allow American's freedom's and rights to be taken away. Please wake up or be ready to have the shackles replaced that our ancestors removed.
Pay attention to these lie's for Mr Beck has educated me and many American's Black and White to the Progressive lies that hide the Black importance in History.

Unknown said...

AmericanPatriot - Please point me to any URL webpages where I can see Glenn Beck educating folks about anything that is uplifting to people of African descent in this country.

I'm willing to be educated. Can you tell me where to find such video or audio or commentary.

Anything that you feel Beck "taught" or said that uplifts Black people.

Take your time...