Soon-to-be ex-Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck was the target of an unusually successful campaign to discourage advertisers from supporting his program, and now liberal watchdog Media Matters for America is trying to take on the entire network. It’s created a new website called Drop Fox.
In an email blast to potential supporters, MM wrote, “In what is nothing less than a victory for civil discourse and responsible media, Glenn Beck will soon be leaving Fox News. Don’t think for a minute, however, that Beck’s departure means Fox News has suddenly embraced accountability and restored credibility.”
MM continued, “Because this has gone far enough, we’ve launched a new campaign to show advertisers just what they’re sponsoring when they partner with Fox News and to inform the public about which companies are supporting Fox’s dishonest and divisive agenda. Join us today at Drop Fox. It’s time for advertisers to decide.
Will they continue to put their brand on the line by spending money to associate their products with bigotry, political attacks, and deliberate misinformation? Will they risk their reputation by helping to perpetuate Fox’s toxic effect on civil discourse? Or will they act responsibly and pull their ads from the so-called news network?”
The website encourages supporters to contact advertisers to request they abandon any campaigns placed with FNC. The charter members of the targeted advertiser group are Orbitz, Best Western, Priceline, Delta, Ocean Spray, Netflix and Southwest Airlines.
RBR-TVBR observation: It’s one thing to go after an individual program – and even then, successful advertiser discouragement campaigns are few and far between. We doubt this effort will make much of a dent in the FNC advertiser pool. It does beg the question, however – will we be seeing an equal-and-opposite Drop MSNBC campaign from a conservative watchdog?
