StarKist Becomes 102nd Sponsor To Drop Glenn Beck
Feb 8th
Last week, Glenn Beck lost his 100th (Honda) and 101st (Best Western) sponsors. Additionally, Mr. Beck came under a fire from a coalition of civil rights groups for his suggestion that Pres. Obama’s name, Barack, is un-American.
This morning, StarKist (tuna) became the 102nd sponsor to drop Glenn Beck.
StarKist’s statement (emphasis added):
Our television media purchases are dictated by our marketing plan and are chosen based on time of day, such as early morning (6:00 – 10:00 a.m.) or primetime (8:00 to 11:00 p.m.); channel (ABC, Lifetime, ESPN, etc.) and audience demographics.
We do not dictate what program is on when our commercial airs. But we do frequently evaluate our media purchases to ensure that the programs we choose match our brand’s target demographics and overall advertising plan. In doing so, we have chosen to not air our commercial during Glenn Beck’s program going forward given a number of alternatives that meet our advertising plan’s criteria.
Thanks again for your inquiry.
StarKist Consumer Affairs
consumeraffairs@starkist.com
When will media stop ignoring Glenn Beck’s continued sponsor loss? When will they start asking Fox News to account for Mr. Beck’s vitriolic, sexist and racially charged tirades?
A list of 102 sponsors that dropped Glenn Beck can be found here.
Many thanks to all those participating in this effort! Great work all. Let’s keep this momentum going…
Civil Rights Groups Form Coalition, Denounce Glenn Beck’s Questioning Of Obama’s Name
Feb 7th
On February 4, Glenn Beck attacked Obama for ‘choosing’ the name Barack. Beck suggested the name was un-American:
BECK: He chose to use his name, Barack, for a reason. To identify, not with America — you don’t take the name Barack to identify with America. You take the name Barack to identify with what? Your heritage? The heritage, maybe, of your father in Kenya, who is a radical? Really? Searching for something to give him any kind of meaning, just as he was searching later in life for religion.
Responding to this absurd and bigoted attack, a coalition of civil rights groups denounced Glenn Beck’s remarks. The coalition includes: America’s Voice, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Center for New Community, Color of Change, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Media Matters.
Their joint statement: More >
No, Glenn Beck. Michelle Obama Did Not Call Her Kids “Fatties”
Feb 6th
Glenn Beck really should refrain from discussing the Obama children. It’s really dicey territory, even for him. Take for example, a recent headline from his website:
A similar headline also appeared in his daily email:
Actually Glenn, the First Lady didn’t call her kids “fatties,” nor did she suggest anything of the sort. The only person using the term “fatties” is you.
Glenny, you’ve got plenty of misinforming and preying on racial anxiety to do. So, how about you steer clear of the kids, okay?
Best Western Becomes 101st Sponsor To Drop Glenn Beck
Feb 5th
Best Western is the latest sponsor to drop Glenn Beck. Of note: they also dropped Glenn Beck in record time – less than 24 hours. Best Western ads first appeared yesterday (Feb. 4). After participants in the StopBeck effort reached out to them, Best Western sent along word this morning that they were pulling their ads.
This brings the total number of Glenn Beck’s dropped sponsors to 101.
Best Western’s statement (emphasis added):
Thank you for contacting us regarding our advertising programming. When purchasing our advertising, we typically purchase at a network level and not on specific television programs. We do not endorse a particular viewpoint and respect the different views of all of our valued customers. We have since made adjustments to our advertising buy and our ads will not run during this program.
Thank you again, for sharing your feedback and we hope to have an opportunity to serve your lodging needs in the near future.
Christy Smith | Marketing Specialist
Best Western International | The World’s Largest Hotel Chain(r)
20400 North 29th Ave | Phoenix | AZ | 85023
Many thanks to all those participating in this effort! Onward we go…
Toyota: No More Ads On Glenn Beck’s Show In UK
Feb 3rd
Recently, ads for Toyota began appearing on Glenn Beck’s show in United Kingdom. Back in October 2009, Toyota removed all ads from Glenn Beck’s show in the United States. In light of this, we got in touch with Toyota regarding the significance of their ads appearing on Beck’s show in the UK.
Toyota confirmed that they are removing the ads from Glenn Beck’s show in the UK.
Toyota’s statement:
There were a number of mentions yesterday on Twitter regarding a Toyota GB advertising spot which ran during a Fox Network TV show on Satellite TV.
We looked into the issue, and our Advertising Department have now released this statement:
“It came to our attention yesterday that one of our advertisements appeared during Glenn Beck’s show in late January 2010, after Toyota-Lexus USA withdrew its sponsorship of the show in late 2009. Having looked into this Toyota (GB) can confirm that it supports Toyota-Lexus USA in their decision to cease running these advertisements. We are working to ensure that no other advertisements of ours will air during future shows.”
Thanks to those who brought this to our attention.
Thanks to Toyota for their quick attention to this matter. And, thanks to all those participating in this effort: as you can see, your tweets and emails to sponsors matter.
Reminder: The total number of sponsors to drop Glenn Beck is 100.
Honda Confirms No More Ads On Glenn Beck Or Fox News
Jan 31st
On January 27, 2010 a Honda advertisement ran on Glenn Beck’s show in the UK. Shortly after, the Stop Beck – UK effort contacted Honda and urged them to stop sponsoring Glenn Beck. Honda advised that they will no longer be purchasing ads on Glenn Beck’s show or Fox News as a whole.
This brings the total number of dropped sponsors to 100.*
Honda’s original statement:
Thanks for taking the time to share your concerns with us. We are now at
the end of our advertising schedule with that channel and have noted your
comments.Honda is politically neutral and strives to exceed ethical standards. We
apply these policies to our communication strategy with our best endeavor
but as you say we cannot determine the program or editorial content around
which we advertise.
It was unclear on whether this meant their ads would be running in the future. So they were asked. On whether they would be running ads on Glenn Beck or Fox News in the future, Honda advised:
We have no plans to renew
Paul Ormond
General Manager, Corporate Press and PR
Preferable as it would have been for Honda to publicly admonish Glenn Beck’s vitriol, one reality remains: after being contacted their ads will no longer be running on all of Fox News, which also means their ad dollars will not be subsidizing Glenn Beck.
Big thanks to all those participating in this effort!
*Because the statement isn’t as strong as I would like it to be, this really feels more like 99 1/2 to me.
GlaxoSmithKline Drops Glenn Beck
Jan 27th
GlaxoSmithKline confirms that they have pulled ads from Glenn Beck’s show in the United States as well as internationally.
This brings the total number of dropped sponsors to 99.
GlaxoSmithKline’s statement (scan of this letter available here):
Thank you for your letter of 8 December 2009, regarding advertising around TV programming that includes the views of Glen [sic] Beck.
A few days prior to your letter, GSK expanded an existing ban on advertising around programming that included Glen [sic] Beck on the US Fox News Channel. This expansion removed GSK advertising from rebroadcast content including Glen [sic] Beck anywhere in the world.
Please let me know if you have any further concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Jones
Vice President, Communications
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
Special thanks to the Stop Beck UK Effort for sending along word of this dropped sponsor as well as for all their hard work. And, of course, thanks to everyone participating in this effort.
Great work all! Onward to 100…
Glenn Beck: “Women Are Psychos”
Jan 20th
In this clip from the January 20, 2010 Glenn Beck radio show, Beck puts his sexism on display:
Of note:
- “You don’t know the psychosis that is chickdom”
- “Women are psychos”
Alpro Soya Removes All Advertisements From Fox News
Jan 11th
Alpro Soya advises that they will not only be dropping Glenn Beck, but pulling all their advertisements from the Fox News channel. Their ads had been appearing on Glenn Beck’s show airing in the United Kingdom.
This brings the total number of dropped sponsors to 98.
Alpro Soya’s statement:
Thank you for your email.
We have spoken to our media buying agency who place all of our advertising and they are aware of the situation. In fact they are in the process of pulling all advertising out of this TV channel and that includes the Alpro soya advert.
I hope this reassures you of our best intentions and hope that your confidence in Alpro soya is now fully restored. Thank you for taking the time to bring this issue to our attention.
Kindest Regards
Kimberley Scholes
Alpro Customer Care
Big thanks to the Stop Beck – UK Effort and everyone else participating in this cause. Great work all!
