“Apple, a company that counts Al Gore among its board members and whose CEO once dated Joan Baez, found itself the unlikely target of an advertising boycott campaign this week,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
MacDailyNews Take: Also, whose co-founder Steve Jobs agrees with Rush Limbaugh (as do we) that U.S. public schools are ‘unionized in the worst possible way’. So, maybe it’s not so unlikely, after all (just adding a missing color to the portrait Elmer-DeWitt’s trying to paint).
Elmer-DeWitt continues, “The issue is an iPhone ad that appeared on the Aug. 7 broadcast of the Glenn Beck show on the Fox News Channel.”
“Under pressure from advocacy groups, more than a dozen companies, including ConAgra, Geico, Procter & Gamble and Progressive, have pulled their commercials from the conservative commentators’ show,” Elmer-DeWitt reports.
“The boycott was launched last month by ColorofChange.org after Beck made remarks on Fox and Friends that labeled President Obama a ‘racist’ with a ‘deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,'” Elmer-DeWitt reports. “The campaign was picked up by democrats.com, which provided its members with a list of advertisers and an e-mail form letter that threatens to stop buying the sponsors’ products as long as they advertise on Fox News.”
“Although the boycott began after Beck’s July 7 remarks about Obama’s alleged racism, it was broadened by democrats.com into an attack on Fox News and what it calls the cable network’s campaign of ‘outright hate-mongering and incitement of violence’ following Obama’s election,” Elmer-DeWitt reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, they’ve never watched Olbermann. Like most people. Or, those that have watched him, happen to agree with him, so they fail to identify it as “outright hate-mongering and incitement of violence.”
We try to watch bits from all sources. It’s often great fun regardless of the politics they happen to be peddling; you can sometimes catch interesting and telling looks in the faces of those participating. TV political shows strike us as a rather nasty game to play, but they can still be fun to watch, if you know which brand each is selling and what to look for.
As for this Glen Beck business. We’re not picking sides here. We haven’t seen the full Beck video. However, we consider any boycott to be free speech and we will – as you might guess – back free speech any damn day of the week, regardless of who’s speaking. We’re just pointing out the blatant hypocrisy, that’s all.
Daily Kos surmises that any ads that were pulled “were replaced by advertisers that probably didn’t even know that their ads would be aired during the Glenn Beck show. Advertizers like Apple who in all likelihood bought ad money on Fox News on the cheap during latenight, but who due to the vaccume of advertizing on Beck’s show, had their ads instead moved to the more expensive primetime slots of the Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity shows. For more proof of this, anyone who is DVR’ing Beck’s show as a part of this boycott can jump to minute 56 of today’s (Friday, Aug. 7) 5PM show and see an ad for the Apple iPhone.”
Daily Kos reports, “Apple never used to have any ads on the Glenn Beck show. Their ads mostly showed up mid afternoon or very latenight on Fox News, and sometimes on the O’Reilly Factor, but never during either Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity. In all likelihood, Apple’s ads purchased for very late night airings were moved free of charge to more lucrative spots, without Apple’s knowledge.”
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Apple should carefully target their ad buys and, if they’re buying them in such a way that they do not know exactly where they are airing, then they should rethink their ad placement strategy. They have enough cash to steer clear of the cheap buys.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, we’re not picking sides here, but taking what we know about the treatment of Apple over the years — and without seeing in full exactly what Beck said and how he said it — we’d guess that the real problem that some people have isn’t so much about what Glen Beck said, but more about his continuing success in the ratings. Those who are perceived to be “dangerous” by the opposition are the ones who are attacked most: Apple (upsets the status quo in multiple markets), Glenn Beck, Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich (back in the day), Bill Clinton (back in the day), Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, etc.
We’d arrive at exactly the same conclusion if the show in question were deemed to be “liberal” and faced a “conservative” boycott.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Please ignore my two posts above. They were not meant for public consumption.
I am neither left nor right, but Glenn Beck is a lunatic. The equivalent of the village idiot, he should have been shunned and relegated to the edge of public discourse a long time ago. As with most of the ridiculous talking heads on TV that get ratings through fear, intimidation, bullying and outright lying.
Sorry MDN, but the political posts are just too much. You just lost another reader.
Faux News is doing everything it can to delegitimize the election of Barack Obama as president.
And they love fabricating the “news” to do so.
MDN,
You are conservative assholes who think that people should keep more of their own money, that government should spend much more wisely, and that people who are capable of caring for themselves should do so while helping those that cannot via charity work, not government-controlled, wasteful programs funded by confiscatory, economy-deadening over-taxation.
I hate you!
Goodbye forever!!!
Less of yr opinion MDN and more news, please.
Jen
@ Dem Operative. Careful. Too much truth in your comment may cause some of the more unbalanced Libs heads here to explode!
Unless, of course that’s your goal. If so, good job!
UMMMM . . . . Note to both of you. TV ratings do not equate directly with truth, accuracy, or in any way supplant the true mood of the general population.
Is Glenn Beck is the Republican Michael Moore, only full of hot air and fake concern instead of solid research and reasonable arguments. I am sure we all live in a different dimension to the one he thinks we are in.
So Obama has a deep hatred for white people? I guess all those white people who voted for him got fooled. If I voted for him I would be either scared or angry right now. Is there a news network that could keep me informed about the best way to protect myself and my loved ones?
Apple has its toes in the republican market and would not pay for this ad if it was trying to show support for Glenn Beck and his views.
My money is on Glenn Beck taking a turn to politics, further marginalising the white right and maybe even making Sarah Palin seem credible and reasonable.
I’ll bet that 99% of the folks on here criticizing Fox have never watched it for more than a couple of minutes. There’s no “hate speech” on Fox, especially by Glenn Beck. I saw the clip in question. It was not hate speech. Try watching a few days. You might learn something.
Bush was constantly called a racist, why can’t Obama be one? Because he’s black? That’s hypocritical. He’s certainly given us enough doubts with statements like “typical white person,” in addition to Reverend Wright.
MacDailyNews,
You are a bunch of Liberal fsckheads who support the boycott of The Glen Beck Show, along with redistribution of wealth, taking from achievers to support the dregs of society, and socialism in general.
I hate you!
Goodbye forever!!!
Glenn Beck is living proof that this country needs vast improvements in the quality and availability of mental health care.
I don’t come to MDN to real about your politics. I come here expressly to stay away from politics. I have been reading MDN happily for quite some time and only now got an account so I could post my unhappiness.
But since you brought it up. Glenn Beck has:
(1) joked about poisoning the Speaker of House
(2) lied continuously about the “death panels” which are no more than living wills.
(3) has called the President a racist
(4) lied repeatedly about Sonya Sotomayor, the Supreme court justice.
and on and on and on. In short, he is a right wing extremist. And he has every right to be.
And I have every right to tell his corporate sponsors that by sponsoring him, they lose my business.
In short this has NOTHING to do with Apple save for the fact that they have advertised, and probably inadvertently, on his show.
Given the composition of Apple’s market, I am surprised that they even considered placing ads on Fake News. Their market is obviously largely up-scale consumers, many of whom detest the likes of O’Reilly, Limbaugh and Beck.
tz,
The true mood of the general population bodes very well for Republicans and Conservatives, not Democrats and Liberals:
http://tinyurl.com/obama-failing-bigtime
OK, I see it. MDN, and alter ego Steve Jack, is a right-wing republican, and a Mac zealot. And Olbermann as a hate-monger? Talk about projection!
Excellent takes, MDN!
@ violet
Yeah, that last election sure did go well for Conservatives and Republicans. What was that, like months ago now?
“Beck made remarks on Fox and Friends that labeled President Obama a ‘racist’ with a ‘deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture,'”
Assuming this is true, and I do, my comment is that this sort of rhetoric has no place in civil discourse. There is plenty to disagree with as far as this President is concerned without stooping to questioning motives and tarring him with the racist epithet. Beck should break down the problems with the policies, which is easy enough to do, and eliminate his character attacks.
MDN’s comment about Olberman is quite true however. I’ve watched his show enough to know what a lying, vile bastard he is.
Let us take a moment to thank God for providing us with the progressive, liberal, radical, Democratic, wacko hippies who created Apple computers in progressive, liberal, radical, Democratic, wacko hippie Northern California.
News organizations are not objective observers reporting the facts without judgement, haven’t been for years. Hearst started a war to sell papers. Morrow fought McCarthy. The news hid Roosevelts polio, Kennedys affairs and villifies every administration. There isn’t a news organization I trust to give me the truth.
@ Wake Up
Agreed. In fact GB raises issues of how the left is funded and its objectives obtained. Coming from someone who spent long periods in communist Eastern Europe, I believe I have a clear eye for the threats posed by socialists. Beck has educated me on issues like the “Progressive Movement” – and I have two graduate degrees and am well travelled. As for tired claims of racism from the likes of me or Beck, get a life. I routinely host cadets (for four year periods) from Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Senegal, and Madagascar. I will not, and do not tolerate racism or religious intolerance or any other form of bigotry. Can you name callers from the left say the same? While I may not agree with everything he says, I’ve never seen a racists comment on his show. Watch Beck for a week and see if you can really spot the racism.
I’d had inklings that the operators of this site were not people with whom I’d care to associate. Now that the point is proven, I’ll get my Apple news elsewhere.
Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity have gone beyond free speech and are in dangerous territory. They are inciting violence against the president and congress persons and on the verge of outright sedition.
Elections have consequences. The republicans lost. They can try again in 2010 and 2012. Best of luck to them then.
Fox News and Glenn Beck and O’Reilly are the ONLY media programs that are not in the bag for Obama. If you look at the town hall meetings and the President’s meetings you might note the this whole furor seems to have black v white underpinnings. The USA is in a dangerous situation right now in my opinion.
@Lets [sic] be honest here,
They are the fawning corporate media.
“The Daily Kos ” is squeeky clean? Give me a break!
I’m sorry, but the libs are completely and utterly full of shit on this one. The hypocrisy is absolutely astounding. Apparently, spewing disgusting, vile, hatred is OK for the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, and their ilk, but it’s not OK for Glenn Bake to call President Obama a racist – which he clearly IS on some issues. Why was it OK for everybody to call President Bush a racist (and much worse), but calling President Obama a racist is grounds for a boycott? I know! Because they’re damned hypocrites!
Besides, this boycott isn’t about any sort of principle… It’s just about the left attacking competing ideologies with whatever weapon they have at their disposal.
A boycott is NOT “voting with your dollars”. “Voting with your dollars” is personally choosing to purchase products (or not). Right or wrong, boycotting is an organized attack on those you disagree with.
Finally, Beck or Hannity DO NOT “incite violence any more so than do Olbermann the like. This is just pure bullshit from the ultra left.
Man, I’m so sick of the “winger” extremists on both sides. They’re all like a bunch of damn children, pointing fingers at everybody else and incapable of admitting any fault of their own.