On Monday morning, AOL became the eighth sponsor, and the
largest so far, to pull its support from Rush Limbaugh’s show.
The “suspension” (not “termination”) of AOL’s advertising
schedule was announced on its Facebook
page, and came in response to the growing controversy over Limbaugh’s
comments about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke’s congressional testimony
about contraception (that’s a lot of prepositions; I hope this thing doesn’t go
on too much longer).
The move indicates that Limbaugh’s weekend apology has not
only failed to impress, but may have actually made things worse for the embattled radio
host; indeed, Limbaugh only apologized for the specific words he used, meaning
he stood by the content of his attack on Fluke. Sponsors have been pulling out
of the show all weekend as the press surrounding Limbaugh’s comments got more
and more toxic, but AOL is far and away the largest company to do so. (For a
list of companies, including Sears and All State, still advertising with Rush,
go here.)
Cenk Uygur has an
interesting read on this. Rush has rarely apologized for anything he’s
said, and has withstood bad press before; so why now, over
this? Uygur thinks that Rush’s “20 million viewers”—a figure that came from Rush’s
staff, and has long been cited to prove the host’s outsized import—is inflated, if not outright fictional. If so, not only would a boycott hurt Rush more than one would think,
but it would encourage companies to join the boycott, under the
rats-fleeing-sinking-ship logic.
“Advertisers are much more likely to drop a controversial
guy if his numbers are already down,” Uygur writes. “They'll ride it out if
he's still delivering the goods.” Uygur has offered a Romney (a ten-thousand
dollar bet) to Limbaugh to prove his ratings. If the boycott works, Rush may need the $10,000.
Now, AOL: a word, please. Here’s the text of your release:
“At AOL one of our core values is
that we act with integrity. We have monitored the unfolding events and have
determined that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values. As a
result we have made the decision to suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh
Radio show.”
Aside from that cryptically tautological first sentence,
this is bunk. If your core value were integrity, you would have dropped Rush
the moment he made the comments, not after nearly a week of pressure and bad
press. Or, you would have stuck with him through the pressure and bad press.
Either way, caving in to pressure and bad press is the opposite of acting with
integrity. Good, then; as you were.
UPDATE (1:20 p.m.): A ninth company has joined the boycott.
Also check out other companies' statements, all of which are a lot better than AOL's, with the best being from the CEO of Carbonite:
“No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have
two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and
well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on
Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr.
Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our
advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other
advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to
a more civilized public discourse.”
That's more like it.
---
Want to connect to other PoliticOlogists? Continue the
discussion at My Ology
Follow Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment!