Sebastian Gray has more to say about this in his column for Gray Matters, but today Olive Garden announced it does not support David Letterman or his jokes about the statutory rape of a 14 year-old.
This leaves Mars Candy, Kelloggs, and Johnson + Johnson as three of Letterman’s family-focused advertisers who continue to support the home of sexism and misogyn on television, the David Letterman show.
Please stop calling, writing, or faxing Olive Garden and instead focus all of your attention on Mars Candy, Kelloggs, and Johnson + Johnson.
All over the Internet, the Obots have been going nuts today, posting and posting over and over again “he apologized…it’s over…give it up…just give up!”.
Why would you give something up if it’s working before Mars Candy, Kelloggs, and Johnson + Johnson drop their support for Letterman and CBS?
If you really want to make sure both Letterman and CBS learn their lesson, you will continue your efforts until he loses Mars Candy, Kelloggs, and Johnson + Johnson as advertisers.
We plan to encourage you to do this for a total of 30 days, at the end of which at least one more of Letterman’s big family-focused advertisers will drop him, costing CBS millions in revenue.
Al Sharpton wouldn’t stop until Letterman is fired. We never believed having him fired was possible, but getting three more of his big advertisers to drop him is certainly doable, and roughly works out to getting one of those big companies to abandon him each week.
We think it’s a project worth investing time and effort in — because it’s about much more than just Sarah Palin. This is the sort of thing we wish had taken root during the primaries and general election, but it took this long to organize a coalition to have any impact to stand up for women against the media.
30 days of this, unrelenting, will teach CBS, Letterman, and Madison Avenue a lesson none of them will soon forget: you joke about statutory rape or make other sexist and misogynistic remarks and you suffer the consequences from here on out. Delivering a weak apology filled with excuses is not good enough for Al Sharpton when race is concerned, and should not be good enough for women when sexism and misogyny are concerned either.
June 18, 2009 at 6:29 pm
It might be helpful to remind Mars that Halloween isn’t too far away. Maybe Hershey’s should start making more fun size candies just in case.
June 18, 2009 at 6:35 pm
My hats off to HB! You guys are exactly what the doctor ordered to get rid of misogyny!
You’re absolute right. Al Sharpton would never be satisfied if Letterman had made racists remarks. He wasn’t satisfied until Imus was fired and for far less!!
I love what you are doing. Your actions are reminicent of the patriotic spirit and passion upon which this country was founded. Our country will never progress as long as women are marginalized as they are in what we’ve been told is the greatest democracy in the world and “all men AND women” are supposed to be equal.
We will never be the greatest democracy unless and until women are treated with respect and are considered equal to the men.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
June 18, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Don’t get too excited about Olive Garden, I read this on FreeRepublic..now they deny that they have pulled their ads.
Olive Garden disputes report that ads were pulled from Letterman
Christian Science Monitor ^ | 06.18.09 | Jimmy Orr
Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:07:52 PM by curth
A spokesman for the Olive Garden disputed a report from Politicothat the restaurant chain pulled its advertising from the David Letterman show due to jokes about Sarah Palin’s daughter.
“Information reported today by Andy Barr of Politico regarding Olive Garden’s advertising on the Late Show with David Letterman was erroneous. No authorized spokesperson for the company confirmed the information in his report,” said Olive Garden spokesman Rich Jeffers in an email to The Vote.
“The Olive Garden media schedule is planned months in advance. The schedule for the Late Show with David Letterman was completed earlier this month. We take all guest concerns seriously. And, as always, we will factor those concerns in as we plan our advertising schedule in the future,” he continued.
(Excerpt) Read more at features.csmonitor.com …
June 18, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Olive Garden is trying to have it both ways: not renewing its ad buy costs CBS a fortune — but they get to save face by saying they were not pressured into doing this.
The point it, CBS will not be receiving any more revenue from them.
Time to targe Mars Candy, Kelloggs, and Johnson + Johnson until they also “don’t renew their agreements”
June 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm
please take a couple of minutes write Olive Garden to thank them..
https://www.olivegarden.com/company/contact_us/Default.asp?
June 19, 2009 at 9:35 am
Good idea!
June 18, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Why doesn’t Letterman offer any apologies to A-Rod? That was an unacceptable slur for men of color to rape young girls. Why doesn’t Al Sharpton understand that? -Steve-
June 18, 2009 at 8:20 pm
because Al Sharpton is a racist.
June 18, 2009 at 7:34 pm
HotAir has a third update to the Olive Garden Story. OG is NOT going to be running more adds on Letterman. Politico HAS EMAILS TO PROVE IT.
Olive Garden dumps Letterman; Update: Olive Garden denies; Update: E-mail shows OG, Hellmans backing away from Letterman.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/18/olive-garden-dumps-letterman/#comments
Way to go HILLBUZZ.
June 18, 2009 at 7:42 pm
“because it’s about much more than just Sarah Palin”
Exactly. There’s actually (I think), two hypocritical issues at play.
One issue is that remarks about Sarah Palin looking like a “slutty flight attendant” are blatantly sexist. I thought we were all supposed to be respectful of women, and not diminish them down to mere sex objects. I guess that was before Obama lowered the standard during the campaign and allowed Hillary (and any other woman who crossed his path) to be belittled by his minions.
The second issue is the obnoxious smear against her children. For years, we’ve heard that politician’s children are off-limits. And they should be, no matter which side of the aisle their parents prefer. During the campaign, Obama even tried to make Michelle off-limits. But, it’s ok for them to drag Palin’s kids into this mess?
No.
Even if Letterman *did* apologize, the example needs to be set. They need to learn that we’re not going to take their double standard lying down.
(By the way, I didn’t think his first “apology” was any less offensive than his original remarks. When he was forced to do the second one, it was moderately better, but still hardly a real apology.)
June 18, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I still think that his second apology was written for him because of the use of the words perceived and misunderstood. They remind me too much of company training manuals about sexual harassment and excuses given about behavior that is sexual harassment. I think it was an apology to cover CBS more than anything else.
June 18, 2009 at 7:46 pm
HillBuzz, you did it. I am impressed with your determination. You guys are real fighters.
Please teach us stupid conservatives how to stick up for what we believe. We need help. I think by your example the tide is turning.
Thanks
June 18, 2009 at 8:28 pm
It’s a sad commentary that OG has to act like they didn’t do the right thing, isn’t it?
June 18, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I already emailed Olive Garden and told them until I had a definite answer and they were pulling their advertising I would not be eating in their restaurants and instead I would be eating a lot of Hellmann’s mayonaise.
June 18, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Bravo, sorry about your friend – but persistence is the key. As the turtle beat the hare, it is the race and enduring it is what is important.
Let’s get back decency in our political disagreement.
Obots must really be scared of Sarah Palin.
June 18, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Obots are TERRIFIED of Palin, because she has proved that she has a closer connection to “regular Americans” than just about any politician out there: she grew up in a normal family, went to a state school, and beat the big guys to become Governor. She has a special-needs child that she loves unconditionally, a child serving in a war, and a child who became a teen mother. When she says that she’s been there or she understands…..she DOES!
Anytime I see an interview with her or read something about her, I just love her more and more. She is a force to be rekoned with.
Way to go HB…keep up the good work!
June 18, 2009 at 10:01 pm
She also took on the Republican machine in Alaska and beat them! That`s why the Republicans smear her also.
June 18, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Totally true. they know she won’t cover for them. Also, she represents everything they aspired to be when they got into politics.
thirdly, she is a threat to their own power and they are scared. People will vote for Palin and not them-she takes votes away from them and they know it. That is why they run her down as well
June 18, 2009 at 10:18 pm
My favorite that kept me laughing for days; Trolls that hate palin with a passion that reduce themselves to foaming at the mouth nutjobs, offering helpful advice to Palin supporters “your really going to hurt her by continuing the boycott”
cuz they just care so much they want to help her now! LOL The trolls and lefties really are losing it bigtime. Their fear increases with each day and they show it in ever way possible.
Keep at it everyone!
LOL
June 18, 2009 at 11:12 pm
You know, I’m really beginning to see that conservatives are the political equivalent of abused wives. We are so used to being slandered and made fun of that we don’t realize that it could be different if we just stood up for ourselves. Thank you to all the moderate and former dems who are helping us see the light. Just knowing that you are out there, across the aisle maybe but still friends & neighbors means loads. It gives this Jersey girl hope.
June 19, 2009 at 9:41 am
I agree entirely. As a conservative, I have been energized by this last election cycle because in coming together with Democrats who share many of my same beliefs, I have learned a lot from the HB Boys and other Hillary groups. They have taught me not to back down, not to feel that I am wrong and must apologize for my beliefs.
Sometimes we need to go through great adversity to find our strength and courage. I treasure that aside from all that angers me about this past election, I have made new alliances and learned from them. We are America and I am thankful that we have been brought together to protect this beautiful country and all it stands for. How dare Washington think that it is to their advantage that they keep us divided just so they can retain their power. The more we find strength in our common beliefs, the more they will be marginalized.
Present day D.C. needs to know the clock is ticking and we will not let them use us anymore!
June 19, 2009 at 2:42 pm
The media never covered the Hillary Clinton Democrats that now support GOP candidates in many elections because they dislike Obama’s plan.
Why has Sarah Palin got legal cases against her (that have all be chucked out) for ethic violations in public office. When Obama can fly to New York City with a Government plane to see the Theatre in a recession at tax payers expense for personal reasons.
The media prised him for this waste of tax payers money.
Also he went to Nevada on tax payers expense to endorse Harry Reid in a drunken Las Vegas Party but justified the trip with the saying he went there because of the energy speech he did.
June 20, 2009 at 11:55 am
Exactly, the media never accurately reported the real news about Hillary Dems and spent months of precious air time being abusive towards those who refused to ‘Get over it’
If the media is exerting that much effort to abusively label a segment of people. Especially within the political arena. The first question should be why are the media playing divide and conquer?
Look at how they treated Mr Steele immediately after winning his post with the RNC. Anyone who watched him at FoxNews over the years knows that the media were doing a hatchet job on him.
But that first impression was designed to negate anyone actually listening to him in full. If they did listen, they would realize, like HillBuzz has often stated, that Mr Steele should be President instead of Obama.
Obama doesn’t have half the intelligence, experience, or sense of humor that Mr Steele does. And unlike Obama, he has been subjected to real racism during his run for office.
Divide and conquer works.
June 18, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I had my Nobama bumpersticker ripped off my car yesterday. I decided to channel my anger into writing emails to Letterman’s advertizers. I sent some emails early on and cancelled my HBO service due to Bill Maher (should have done that as soon as they cancelled Deadwood since that was the last show of theirs I actually watched). All this motivation from everyone at HillBuzz and commentors I am going to keep on keeping on with the emails. I enjoyed seeing that Letterman’s losing advertizers on some headlines and on Greta’s show!
Next I am going to focus on my senators & rep in regards to Cap & Trade (I have seen my utility bill go from $400p/m 10 years ago, to $2000 p/m for my business) and ObamaCare. Thank You HillBuzz and Sebastien – cuz I’m not gonna stop. I’ve got to fight to keep my business alive! I can’t have the gov’t force their policies down my throat and dictate how I run my business!
June 19, 2009 at 7:15 am
I got this E-mail from Olive Garden.
June 18, 2009
Dear Mr. Pxxxxx:
Thank you for reaching out to us again.
We apologize that the incident on Mr. Letterman’s show has left you with a bad impression
of Olive Garden. We would like to clarify that Olive Garden has no immediate plans to
advertise during The Late Show with David Letterman.
Again, thank you for sharing your comments.
Sherri Bruen
Guest Relations Manager
June 19, 2009 at 8:45 am
Awesome!! HillBuzz is a God-send. Good work everyone–we can do this!! ~J
June 19, 2009 at 2:23 pm
YOU BETCHA!!!!!!!!
June 19, 2009 at 8:45 am
Just wondering why Obama could not find the time to participate in any fashion (and has been the only president since it started) in the National Day of Prayer/breakfast/etc. However, he is on the tele again this morning from the National Hispanic Day of Prayer Breakfast??
June 19, 2009 at 11:10 am
I started a Facebook group “Contact CBS Letterman Advertisers/ Sponsors Kelloggs, Mars, Johnson&Johnson”
http://rositatheprolesnastylittlebloggingproblem.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/top-ten-reasons-why-we-need-to-kick-up-a-fuss-with-lettermans-advertisers-kelloggs-mars-and-johnson-johnson/
June 19, 2009 at 2:31 pm
well done the companies that have pulled out.
We will bring down the other companies soon, they have to know Letterman is not even funny. Leno is, but Letterman is not funny. and his apologies were not meant.