Apple targeted in Fox News ad boycott
Source: Apple Inc.
Apple (AAPL), 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.
The issue is an iPhone ad that appeared on the Aug. 7 broadcast of the Glenn Beck show on the Fox News Channel (NWS).
Under pressure from advocacy groups, more than a dozen companies, including ConAgra (CAG), Geico, Procter & Gamble (PG) and Progressive (PRG), have pulled their commercials from the conservative commentators' show. (See here.)
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.”
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. The organization set a goal of 100,000 letters; as of Saturday morning 46,575 had been sent. More
