Sponsors are falling away from Rush Limbaugh at a pretty good rate and the old feller must be shaking in his boots right now. Let’s make him shake some more.
by Charlie Leck
It’s time to wallop Rush Limbaugh – to discipline that bad boy and teach him a lesson or two. I’m well aware that he’s had bad behavior in the past, but this time he’s gone way, way too far. If you agree that Limbaugh’s behavior has been downright awful, let’s do something about it.
What can one say?
Haven’t we all had enough of Rush Limbaugh. If you mention his name around my wife, she shudders and looks like she wants to spit (not lady-like, however). Just when you think Rush couldn’t do anything worse, he does.
Rush has been hell-bent on this contraceptives issue and on the question of just what right the government has to force institutions that morally oppose birth control to offer contraceptive products under their insurance coverage or through the institution itself (Catholic hospitals, for instance). Fair enough! Debate it like intelligent human beings.
No, Rush has got to turn it vile and nasty. In an email communication I received yesterday I was told what Rush said on the air. I fact-checked it and, indeed, Rush did say this despicable stuff in talking about a young lady, Sandra Fluke, who is an advocate of having contraceptives included in insurance coverage. Then he went very low and sick!
"What does it say about the college coed ... who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex."
“So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis… If we are going to pay for your contraceptives… we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”
At Georgetown University (a Catholic university), where Fluke is a student, 130+ faculty members signed a letter that praised her for "grace and strength" and condemned the remarks by Limbaugh. The president of the university, John J. DeGioia, also condemned Limbaugh.
And, what’s Limbaugh’s response?
"I think this is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious," Limbaugh said on the air. "The left has been thrown into an outright conniption fit!"
Whether you listen to Rush or not (and I don’t), you ought to do your part in boycotting all and any of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors and stop buying from them. These sponsors will then, as sponsors in the past have, end their relationship with Limbaugh. He will then take on new sponsors. When he does, then let’s stop buying from them.
Start a Movement!
I’m serious about this. All of you out there who detest the dishonesty and constant exaggerations of Rush Limbaugh should get on the bandwagon. Stop buying from any and all of Rush’s sponsors and email and ask your friends (your reasonable and sensible friends) to also stop buying from those sponsors.
Remember, this is the same oaf who mocked Michael J. Fox’s and his Parkinson’s disease. Limbaugh also caused a huge kerfuffle when he smeared professional football quarterback Donovan McNabb in a way that carried strong racial undercurrents. These are but a couple examples of Limbaugh’s foolishness and hurtfulness.
Select Comfort broke with Rush!
Congratulations to the Select Comfort Company, maker of the Sleep Number Bed, for breaking with Rush. They found the big guy’s remarks about Sarah Fluke to be just too much.
You can see from this that pressure can be put on sponsors. The economics are simple here. These companies don’t want to lose ten, or twenty, or thirty percent of their potential market.
A San Francisco company, Sleep Train, also announced it was pulling ads. The company had advertised with Limbaugh for over twenty-five (25!) years. They had enough.
And, this morning it appears that AutoZone is also dropping its long running relationship with Limbaugh.
The marketing division of Limbaugh’s radio empire must be pulling its hair out and losing a great deal of sleep this morning as it worries about its future. Let’s make them worry some more. Limbaugh has spread his hate around long enough.
As best as I can determine (and I’ll be regularly checking and I’ll edit this list if I find inaccuracies) this is the list of Limbaugh’s current sponsors. I suggest you not do business with any of them and that you might want to notify them that you are finished buying from them until they drop Limbaugh.
UPDATE to this blog post: This morning!
Now it looks like Quicken Loans and the Citrix Company have also pulled their advertising from the Limbaugh radio show. Congratulations to them.
Limbaugh’s Sponsors
So, let’s not do business with any of the following companies until we’ve confirmed that they are no longer going to advertise on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. [If you know of errors in this list email me promptly at chasleck@gmail.com and I’ll make the appropriate edits.]
ProFlowers comments on Facebook
ProFlowers put a comment on Facebook and immediately got hundreds of responses to it. The company said: "We would like to assure you that we do not endorse the views expressed by Rush Limbaugh. We understand your concerns and value your feedback." As of this moment it appears they’ll continue their sponsorship. [Post 5 March 2012: ProFlowers has discontinued it association with Rush Limbaugh. The above list is getting shorter.]
Of the companies on the above list, I regular frequent Sears (bought a dishwasher from them not too long ago) and I use ProFlowers. They won’t see or hear from me again unless they drop Limbaugh. I’ve sent notice to all of the companies above that I have both personally decided not to use them and I’ve told them about this blog. Sears is now saying it does not advertise with Limbaugh but stations where they buy time may have put them on the Limbaugh Show.
Congratulations to Legal Zoom
Legal Zoom just announced that it is pulling its ads from Limbaugh’s show. I just took them off the above list. Legal Zoom is an on-line legal document service and they can be found at http://www.legalzoom.com/.
Carbonite has also dropped out and we congratulate them.
A telephone called to us from eHarmony tells us that they are not an advertiser on the Limbaugh show and we apologize to them.
Another Question!
Why haven’t we heard denouncements from the four Republican candidates for the U.S. presidency? Why?
President Obama has called Limbaugh’s remarks “reprehensible!” The President also personally called Ms. Fluke and spoke to her. Fluke is reported by the Associated Press to have said: “"He's really a very a kind man…. He just called to express concern for me and to make sure I was OK and to say that he supported me and to thank me for speaking out about something that's so important to so many women."
Rush Limbaugh has gone far enough. Let’s put the brakes on him.
Media Matters
One of the most important sites on the web is Media Matters. It keeps tabs on the media and reports exaggerations and inaccuracies (to be polite) and all informed citizens should know about this web site. Here’s its report on this matter (it includes a video of Limbaugh’s remarks).
NYTimes
Brian Stelter writes a blog on the NY Times called Media Decoder. Here’s his blog about this growing boycott. It has some good information about other Limbaugh sins and the hole that Rush has dug himself into.
Join the boycott!
CORRECTION: A reader sends a correction. It points out that the American Force Network (AFN)
is not a sponsor of the Rush Limbaugh Show. AFN does carry the show on its network, enabling military personnel to listen to it, but it does not consider itself a sponsor. I'll agree with that and I apologize to AFN. Many published lists include them as a sponsor.
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