Bank of America: Any Glenn Beck ads were run in "error"
August 25, 2009 11:21 am ET by Karl Frisch
Media Matters for America received the following email from Bank of America global media relations Senior Vice-President Joseph L. Goode stating that any ads run on Fox News' Glenn Beck program ran in "error."
Here's Mr. Goode's email (emphasis added):
In response to your August 24 blog, entitled "So who’s still advertising on Beck? His August 24 sponsors were ...", I wanted to let you know that Bank of America does not air commercials on The Glenn Beck Show. Recently, we learned that there may have been instances of our ads running on the program due to an error by media outlets that air this show. Please be assured that we are working with these media outlets to determine an acceptable resolution for this error.
Bank of America is proud to be a leader in supporting diversity and continues to be widely recognized for our progressive workplace practices and initiatives to promote inclusion. This commitment to equality and diversity informs every aspect of our enterprise, including our approach to advertising. As a result, we adhere to a set of media buying guidelines for syndicated programming and for local stations that promote inclusion and help our company reach a broad range of diverse customers.
Bank of America prides itself on fostering a corporate culture that is inclusive of all the communities we serve. Our customers, clients and associates speak different languages; support different family structures and life situations; and have unique and personal financial requirements. In order to meet the diverse needs of our customers, we require a variety of products and services, marketing and a diverse workforce that demonstrate and reflect our awareness and appreciation of who our clients and customers are.
We hope our response demonstrates our longstanding support of diversity, and strengthens your confidence in our company.
Sincerely,
Joseph L. Goode, SVP
Global Media Relations
Bank of America
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MONDAY, AUG. 24, 2009
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,440,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,937,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,810,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,450,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,066,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,860,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,114,000
CNN KING 1,063,000
MSNBC MADDOW 885,000
CNN COOPER 827,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 640,000
The numbers say it all....the boycott is a joke!!
I'm not sure what your numbers prove, though. You might want to rethink that because those are ratings and they really don't have anything to do with an advertiser boycott. In fact, all they really prove is that ill-informed people have more time on their hands to watch TV than informed people do.
Still, I like your idea of a total FOX advertiser boycott. Good thinking, POV!
Think about it this way. Consider what will happen when FNC tries to replace or renew its advertising for Beck's show. Since the show has fantastic ratings, ordinarily they'd be able to charge top dollar. But they may not be able to, because the companies that would usually pay top dollar for spots on his show have left, and new advertisers should therefore be able to negotiate for lower prices.
I have nothing but respect for someone who discourages violence. That's not what Beck does. For months Beck has been talking in terms of revolution, civil war, and more recently, a kind of domestic World War Two. He jokes about poisoning members of congress, says that Obama might as well set Americans on fire, and tells his audience that we're going to lose our freedoms "if people don't stand up and stop these people dead in their tracks". He's not discouraging his audience from taking violent action -- he's covering his a$$ so that when it happens he can claim he wasn't inciting anything.
They're lying. If not, then they've been lying for the last hundred years or so.
We're led to believe that they target their adds to reach certain customers. And if they're only buying "network" time, why do the networks pay some people more than others? The shows with the highest rated (and highest paid) hosts charge the most for their ad slots.
What these advertisers are saying is that they're innocent and not responsible for where their ads are placed. Maybe it's time they took some responsibility?
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