First reactions from Letterman Sponsors (Palin Ping! - No.23 - June 11, 2009)

Various | June 10, 2009 | Me

[SolidWood]

Developments and Updates regarding Letterman Advertisers:

First a recommendation for further info:

Conservatives4Palin updates on Letterman row - Has the contact information for writing and calling CBS staff

Hillbuzz on how to target sponsors (a bit very wordy at the beginning, essentially makes the point to target three big advertisers with an „image interest“)

Hillbuzz updates on Letterman advertisers

FR thread with CBS advertisers contact info

File an online complaint with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) with the point of obscenity

...

First reactions from sponsors:

Some 'minor' sponsors are distancing themselves from Letterman and claim not to be his (direct) sponsors. Ancestry.com has claimed innocence, and Best Western and LiveLock claim to be randomly allocated to Letterman by CBS. They are CBS sponsors however, and their dissociation with Letterman's show might be just to stave off criticism. Those like LiveLock are CBS sponsors who are (probably randomly by CBS) placed with Letterman. So writing them gets the message across.

Hillbuzz thinks that three sponsors should be the focus : M&M, Best Western, Embassy Suites

(I think we should also write the others.)

LiveLock says

At no time has LifeLock ever sponsored David Letterman or any other national CBS talk show. It is possible, however, that depending on where you live that your local station inserted one of our advertisements into an open slot. We have no control what these stations do with the open slot or where the station places our approved advertisement.

We appreciate your email and assure you again, that we have no affiliation with Mr. Letterman’s show.

Ancestry.com

From: Ancestry.com Media Relations [mailto:mediarelations@ancestry.com] Thank you for bringing this important matter to our attention. I can confirm to you that Ancestry.com is not an advertiser or sponsor of the CBS Late Show with David Letterman. It is unclear how the company’s name ended up on this list, but it appears to be a mistake. I wanted to respond to you personally to clarify the situation.

Thanks,

Public Relations Director

Ancestry.com

...

The first ones are obviously getting uncomfortable with being associated with Letterman. Keep up the pressure! (See above linked FR thread on a list of advertisers. Note post #12 with more of them.)

...

UPDATE via HillBuzz:

 Our advice is to focus on three advertisers:  

(1) M&M Mars

(2) Best Western

(3)Embassy Suites

Reason:  remember when Michael Phelps was caught with his marijuana bong?  Kellogg’s cereal dropped him like a hot potato because its brand image is child-focused for most of its products.  Speedo won’t ever drop Phelps, no matter what he does, but we doubt he’ll ever have his face on a McDonald’s happy meal again either. 

No candy company will want to be associate with raping 14 year-olds.  And hotel companies are ALWAYS terrified of being associated with rape (which, sadly, happens at hotels more than the casual traveler realizes…with hotels spending a lot of money in PR to mitigate exposure whenever violent criminal acts like that happen on their premises).  Lexus, Capitol One, and the other advertisers might not like being harassed because of their support for Letterman and his misogynistic jokes, but we doubt they’ll drop him because his demographics are too enticing.  

BUT, a concerted effort directed at M&M Mars, Best Western, and Embassy Suites could be interesting.  “M&Ms: the candy for people who think rape is super fun!”

“Stay at Best Western so you can stay up late and watch jokes about rape!”

“Embassy Suites: the place you go to watch CBS talk about raping 14 year-olds!”

Now, those should have brand managers racing for the phone if a focus and spirited effort is directed at hammering them each and every day until their ads stop appearing on Letterman’s show and website. 

In this economy, a loss of three big advertisers like that will indeed be noticed by CBS.

UPDATE #2:

  Some advertisers, such as Best Western, are claiming they do not advertise on Late Night with David Letterman.  This is apocryphal:  Best Western buys banner ad space on CBS.com, and these ads appear on CBS.com when you click on the David Letterman page on that site.  Best Western, Aerosoles, Paramount’s new Star Trek movie, and other banner ads pop up on every page of David Letterman’s site.  This is paid advertising Best Western and these other companies CHOOSE to buy from CBS. 

If you are an advertiser upset people who despise rape and refuse to allow Letterman to get away with promoting the rape of minors in New York, then you need to get on the phone to your ad buy account execs and yank your web ads from CBS.com. 

No one believes you do not have the power to do this.  If Best Western has agents who can post here, then you have agents who can call your advertising firms and stop giving your money to CBS and David Letterman.

...

Per Conservatives4Palin comes this information:

Response by local CBS affiliate in Anchorage:

I want to thank you for taking the time to write regarding the recent comments about Sarah Palin and her family on The David Letterman Show. I want to let you know that KTVA does not condone this type of treatment of a minor. While our Governor may be a controversial figure, her minor daughter is not. In my opinion this crosses the line and have registered my complaint with CBS corporate management. While I understand from CBS and David Letterman that there has been some confusion regarding which daughter he was referring to, the responsibility rests with them to make this clear. As the General Manager I regret that this content regarding a minor aired on our station. We are previewing tonight's Letterman Show to see if there is a repeat instance of this content. If there is, we will not air another sexually derogatory reference about a Palin minor. I also encourage our viewers to register their sentiments on this matter. CBS maintains an Audience Services telephone number for these types of issues. That number is 1-212-975-3247. I will also be forwarding every email I receive regarding this matter to CBS.

Regards, Jerry Bever

Jerry Bever Vice President/General Manager KTVA-TV Alaska Broadcasting Company, Inc. Phone: 907-646-2128 Fax: 907-646-2188 Email: jbever@ktva.com

Take his advice. Call CBS at 212-975-3247. Melt their phones.

Also contact:

Write the GOP/RNC to grow some spine and react to these slurs (Chairman@gop.com; Info@gop.com; MemberRelations@gop.com)

Write Glenn Beck and Hannity to cover extensively this issue (Greta does):

glennbeck@foxnews.com

Hannity@foxnews.com

[ZULU]

Correct.

If anyone slurred the Chosen One and his family like this, there would be rioting in the street.

See-BS needs to understnad there are limits to its advocacy for leftism in America and Letterman crossed those limits.

He should be fired.

[SolidWood]

BTW at the link, at the end of the page you can leave comments (not complaints to CBS, but comments visible to everyone):

http://www.cbs.com/late_show/the_ten_spot/video.php?cid=518893744&pid=Deg29qSvX_nvlHF1iVF3miN3lzpNnoXT&show=all&offset=0&play=true#formCommentlink

[joe fonebone]

Then break the line of defense with a simple “ So, you are an INDIRECT sponsor of letterman. Direct or indirect, you are a sponsor of the show, are you not?”......do not allow them to use a circular argument on you...

[FreedomPoster]

I want tickets to a Todd Palin - David Letterman cage match.

[FreedomPoster]

It might be worth contacting targeted businesses via shareholder relations.

[Toadman]

"While I understand from CBS and David Letterman that there has been some confusion regarding which daughter he was referring to, the responsibility rests with them to make this clear."

Yes, because a joke about raping a woman's daughter is unacceptable if the daughter is a minor, otherwise...(/s)

This boggles my mind. People who watch Letterman must be desensitized to have become so obtuse. I wonder if they tell jokes about raping each others family members, rolling around with deep belly laughs. Dave must think so.

I loved Dave Letterman when I was young. As I grew older, I matured while his sophomoric humor only changed by becoming politicized and agenda driven.

I will attempt to avoid purchasing any product or service that's advertised on CBS.

KR

[upcountry miss]

Please add me to your Palin ping list. Thanks

[PowderMonkey]

I appreciate the concept of dueling. I have no problem iwth it. If they reintroduced dueling, individuals such as Mr. Letterman would either refrain from making obscene references to other people's underage daughters, man up and apologize, or simply become extinct. I recall seeing the last known duel of the 20th century, between two high ranking officers of the Paraguayan ministry of defense. The two elderly gents being graduates of the military academy and traditionalist, chose sabers. With Judges and Seconds in attendance they stripped to the waist and commenced hacking away at each other in grand style. At first blood, the contest was called, and honor satisfied. Sometimes you just have to go Medieval to get a little respect.

[Carley]

I contacted Mars, which is a privately owned company with very high standards for employment.

I stated that if they continue to advertise on the show it means they approve of Letterman’s comments.

[Former MSM Viewer]

Just went to http://www.cbs.com/ Thursday morning

they have Lettermans ‘Top Ten’, which includes the stewardess crap still on their home page

[Loud Mime]

This seems to be shifting from Lecherman, who is the soul who should be punished. Going after his advertisers makes sense in one regard, but we are making them respond; I want the weight on David Lecherman.

Filling his theatre with a silent crowd would be wonderful. No protests; but no laughs and no applause. The network will fill it in with recordings, but the live actions will have its effect on that invidious person.

[DHC-2]

The Best Western email address keeps coming back at me ... could someone private reply me with a good email on them?

Thank you

[SolidWood]

The sponsors are where they can be hurt. Contacting his sponsors directly will affect him. They endorse his pervert messages by continuing to advertise on his show.

[SolidWood]

See here:

http://www.bestwestern.com/email/email-depts.asp

[Guenevere]

I won't even repeat Alan Colmes (on O'Reilly) sorry excuse as to why Dave said this.

Also, notice Willow's cross necklace in the pictures.

She wears this sincerely....and I'm sure this offends the Palin enemies greatly!

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

[TurtleUp]

I deleted CBS from the list of stations my TV receives and notified CBS. Not only will I no longer watch Letterman, but I will no longer watch anything on CBS. This pair of seuxal “jokes” about a 14 y/o girl was way too far over the line, and Letterman and CBS have made it clear that their response will not satisfy basic human decency. [Posting on multiple threads in the hopes of reaching as many Freepers as possible and encouraging them to delete CBS too.]

[SolidWood]

Update!

More sponsors recorded from last show by curth (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2269418/posts):

Paramount Pictures

Lincoln-Mercury

Met-Life

AT&T

Actonel

AAA

McDonalds

HBO

Mazda

Direct TV

Olive Garden

Listerine

MyCricket.com

Toyota

Geico

Best Buy

Icy Hot

Chase Bank (credit card)

Touchstone Pictures

Verizon Wireless

Kelloggs

Pepcid

[Faith Presses On]

At some point, boycotting the whole liberal media during the Nielson sweeps would really send a message. Right now they seem to feel completely free to distort at will.

[Mister Da]

Regardless of how a commercial appears during a TV show, the public perception (and mine) is that the show is being sponsored by that advertiser. Letterman & others frequently say something like “and now a word from our sponsors” in announcing a commercial break.

Also, commercial breaks usually contain several commercials from different advertisers, so how am I to know which are sponsors or not.

How does a person find the disconnect between knocked-up teen jokes & the candy bar commercial that follows it? Maybe imagining the rape of a 14 year old girl by a promiscuous celebrity is more pleasurable with a bag of M&Ms? Is Lifelock some kind of a chastity belt?

I guarantee you that if a major advertiser called CBS & said they do not wish to be associated with the Letterman show, their wishes would be granted. Therefore, if the advertisers fail to make that call, then they are giving tacit approval to Letterman, be it real or perceived.

Letterman's sponsors need to reflect the show, so I suggest condom commercials, bathhouse commercials, & public service announcements re. the spread of STDs.