Posted on 03/03/2012 11:34:22 AM PST by DestroyLiberalism
By the time the clock was about to hit midnight on FRIDAY, MARCH 2nd, a half-dozen advertisers had used TWITTER to notify their clientele that they had pulled their advertising from RUSH LIMBAUGH's syndicated program.
CALIFORNIA mattress store chain SLEEP TRAIN was the first to announce via TWITTER that it has pulled its ads from LIMBAUGH's syndicated PREMIERE NETWORKS show after the host referred to a college student testifying about contraceptive availability as a "slut," then demanded that women on the pill provide sex videos since the government mandates insurance pays for the pill -- comments LIMBAUGH asserted were made as a form of absurd humor.
The chain, which operates in the SACRAMENTO, SAN FRANCISCO, SAN DIEGO, CENTRAL VALLEY and INLAND EMPIRE markets, tweeted, "We don't condone negative comments directed toward any group. In response, we are currently pulling our ads from RUSH with RUSH LIMBAUGH (sic)."
National advertiser SELECT COMFORT, which advertises its SLEEP NUMBER mattresses on the show, also pulled its ads from the show, tweeting, "Recent comments by RUSH LIMBAUGH do not align w/our values, so we made decision to immediately suspend all advertising on that program." Neither company's tweets indicate for how long the suspension of ads will last.
Later in the day, QUICKEN LOANS sent out the following Tweet: Due to continued inflammatory comments -- along w/valuable feedback from clients & team members -- QL has suspended ads on RUSH LIMBAUGH program."
Apparently, LIMBAUGH only fueled the controversy over his comments about activist law student SANDRA FLUKE and her attempts to testify before Congress in favor of government-funded contraception, saying on FRIDAY, "when the left wants to pretend they have no sense of humor, they are excellent at it. Yesterday in the riff about it, 'Okay, okay, fine. If we're gonna pay for this, at least let us have something for it. How about some sex videos?' If anybody doesn't realize that we are illustrating absurdity here by being absurd and that that is the trademark of this program ... But oh, no! 'Oh, of everything else you've said, that's the lowest of the low. Demanding sex video? Who do you think you are?' Lighten up. I remember using that phrase all the way back in 1989: Lighten up."
He later added, "now, at the end of this week, I am the person that the women of AMERICA are to fear the most. What can I do to the women of AMERICA? Do I have the power to raise their taxes? I do not. Do I have the power to regulate their behavior? I do not. Do I have the power to make health care decisions for them? I do not. Do I have the power to withhold birth control pills from them? I do not. Do I have the power to audit their tax returns? I do not. Do I have the power to take their little four-year-old kindergarten student's lunch and throw it away and make 'em eat something else? I do not. Do I have the power to look into their personal life and leak the information to the media? I do not. Is there one bit of freedom that I can deny them? Can I raise their taxes? They want to blame me as being the person they should fear, when in fact the people doing all these things I just said I have no power to do, the DEMOCRAT PARTY (sic) is doing."
Once The Dominoes Start Falling....
LIMBAUGH'S rant certainly didn't quell the furor, as LEGALZOOM then tweeted that it "has suspended all advertising on the RUSH LIMBAUGH show."
Next to be heard was CITRIX, which went on FACEBOOK to announce, "We have listened to our customers & have decided to cease our advertising on The RUSH LIMBAUGH Show immediately."
But that may not be all, as PRO FLOWERS tweeted to its followers: "Rest assured, your feedback is heard. We heard about the comments and we will reevaluate our marketing plan."
What's more, CARBONITE CEO DAVID FRIEND posted this open letter to his customers:
Over the past two days we have received a tremendous amount of feedback on RUSH LIMBAUGHs recent comments. I too am offended and very concerned about his comments. LIMBAUGHs remarks have us rethinking our future use of Talk radio.
We use more than 40 Talk show hosts to help get the CARBONITE message out to the public. The nature of Talk radio is that from time to time, listeners are offended by a host and ask that we pull our advertising. This goes for conservatives like LIMBAUGH and progressives like STEPHANIE MILLER and ED SHULTZ. We even get customers who demand that we pull the plug on NPR. As an advertiser, we do not have control over a shows editorial content or what they say on air. CARBONITE does not endorse the opinions of the shows or their hosts.
However, the outcry over LIMBAUGH is the worst weve ever seen. I have scheduled a face-to-face meeting next week with LIMBAUGH during which I will impress upon him that his comments were offensive to many of our customers and employees alike.
Please know your voice has been heard and that we are taking this matter very seriously.
Most of the comments at YouTube think it's hilarious.
Everything I have been reading says that they prorate the warranty. And, they don’t replace. You’re stuck. But, I’ll dig it up.
True, Rush has always said, the media didn’t make him so it won’t break him.
I just wondered, don’t know if anyone can answer. But when they sign on for advertising, wouldn’t there be a contract?
If they pull their advertising, will Rush still get paid? I’m sure he was smart enough to put in such clauses. It’s not like Rush has never been “highly controversial” before this.
Of which bar is she a member?
Must be only the ones drunken horndogs frequent, since Martindale can't find her.
With optional shoulder straps to be worn.
Where did you find out Fluke was a lesbian?
Or something we all knew what was coming all along, but hoped to stop.
Doesn't look like we can stop it.
Someone had to fire the 1st shot, and of course it was the evil ones on the left......the "party" of unintended consequences".
Enough drops in the bucket and they will see the error of their ways. Most of the liberals who protested wouldn’t buy their stuff anyway.
They want other people to buy stuff for them.
Anybody got e-mail addresses handy for the advertisers who are bailing?
It would be nice if Hannity, Levin, etal would drop these advertisers if they abandon Rush. Carbonite wouldn’t be in business without the conservative talk show hosts!
What we need is a list of equal businesses to go to, instead of these anti free speech businesses.
I just ordered a couple of cases of his tea myself. I refuse to sit quietly while these left wing A-HOLES try and pull this nonsense.
The Carbonite CEO says he’s got a private meeting scheduled with Rush next week - I’d like to be a fly on that wall!
Oh brother, here we go with the bullcrap.
Lessee - SELECT COMFORT, QUICKEN LOANS, CITRIX, CARBONITE, PRO FLOWERS, LEGAL ZOOM, SLEEP TRAIN - are now on my Personal S***-List for ABJECT STUPIDITY & BLATANT IGNORANCE!
Rush: keep turning-it-up on the commie-libs! $100 says not one lib supports any of those companies; it’s a nationally-coordinated campaign against you. But then you, of all people, know that fact all too well.
Just e-mailed AND called Carbonite. Told them that I was a customer (I am), but will look for a different support group if they pull their advertising from Rush’s program. Seems to me that the guy I spoke to on the phone, was not surprised, and he asked no questions.
DO IT!!! Even the lefties at work LOVED it. They thought blueberry iced tea was strange, as we all did because it was never done before.
Even though some of them hate Rush, they LOVED his tea, especially the blueberry.
Did some research today and found LegalZoom co-founder LIU gave to Obama 2012 PAC
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=emp_or_occ&emp=LegalZoom.com%2C+Inc.
http://www.rocketlawyer.com/?utm_source=1000&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=le
“RocketLawyer” is a big competitor of LegalZoom and is now the fastest growing legal prep co on the net. Legal Zoom I also found announced a few days ago that it is preparing for an IPO. RocketLawyer has made LZ not as valuable as it once was. Rocket Lawyer runs their ads on FOXNews. I noticed Hannity uses them instead of LegalZoom.
Twitter supporters of Rush, many #breitbartsarmy are tweeting that Pro Flowers is staying, so the push is to order flowers in support of Rush !!
http://redeyesfrontpage.blogspot.com/
Limbaugh Sponsor Contact List & Petition
Nine companies remain on the list: Sears, ProFlowers, CARBONITE, Inc., Mid-West Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, American Forces Network, Mission Pharmacal Company, Life Quotes, Inc., Life Lock, Tax Resolution and AOL, parent company of The Huffington Post. (The site lists Lending Tree among the sponsors of the Limbaugh program, despite the company’s statements on Twitter that it is not affiliated with the show.)
I’ve been spending a fair bit of time on the Carbonite facebook page countering the raving lunatics.
I get a kick out of the ones threatening to dump Carbonite and go to Mozy,
I tell them to remember to put the promo code ‘Hannity’ in the check out box.
The advertisers need Rush Limbaugh more than they need to distance themselves. They will find out their business drops off when they cater to moochers and losers.
Very possibly.
Very probably.
Yes.
Yes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.