Thursday, July 24, 2008

The list of advertisers grows--thanks you for your diligence

I was going to respond to things Savage has been saying on his show. I'm so tempted. I won't do it, though. I refuse to feed the troll. I have actually deleted most of this post twice now, because I have gone off on rants that speak directly to his spin. I refuse to debate him. I refuse to lend him that kind of legitmacy. Yes, he's the famous person and I'm just some guy who is the father of a child with autism, but if I debate his points as he makes them, I am only drawing attention away from the effort to get rid of him. We don't need him around. He's perpetuating myths about autism and casting suspicion on anyone with the diagnosis of autism.

He just doesn't get it.

For those of you out there who don't understand the reasons why my blood boils over this issue, and why others are so outraged, let me try to clarify it for you: when Savage claims that 99 percent of the cases where autism is the diagnosis are fraudulant, he casts suspicion on every single child and parent for whom autism is a reality. So now, when I tell other people that my daughter has autism, people who listen to Savage will doubt it. He is trivializing autism, even as he tells his audience that "real" autism is heartbreaking and devastating. He's making the word meaningless to his listeners. He's turning it into the default, catch-all diagnosis for any behavior in children outside of the norm, and that is where the problem really lies.

What I find most ironic is that while those of us who are trying to get him off the air are doing it the way consumers would in a free market, given that it's the only power we would have in the absence of regulation of commerce, Michael Savage is attempting to cast his derision on Media Matters by having his listeners demand tax returns from the organization--he's using government regulation, which is something he normally despises.

In any case, thanks to people who have responded to the call for an effort to log the advertisements on his show in various markets, the list of Michael Savage's advertisers is now more complete. It is going to take some time to update. I urge you to contact every one of them, and if you receive a response, please post it on your blog, and I will link to it from mine, or send it to me so I can post it here.

By the way, Home Depot and Geico, who have both denied advertising on Savage's show, have had five and four commercials tonight, respectively, on the station in my market.

Please keep up the great work, those of you who are writing to the sponsors and those of you who are sending me advertising logs, and those of you who are spreading the word.

4 comments:

danette said...

Excellent post, this is precisely why it can't be ignored.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic work, Greg.

Michael Savage has a right to free speech - the same right that you and I have - to stand on the corner and express our ideas.

Michael Savage has no right to a huge megaphone. That's what they tell ME when I ask for one. They tell me I have no right to a radio station.

So this is not a free speech issue. We don't want to take away this thug's "free speech" we want to stick a sock in his filthy megaphone.

have a peaceful day,
Bill

Anonymous said...

Thanks for doing this, I'm getting the same runaround on companies being surprised their ads are running. I posted to this site for "Total Transformation". They used to have an article up on their blog critical of Michael Savage, but they 404-ed it after I told them their ads were running there. Based on the kind of work they do (responsible parenting advice), I would be shocked if their sponsorship was deliberate.
Link here:
http://www.empoweringparents.com/
and what was taken down:
http://empoweringparents.com/blog/news/kids-faking-autism-the-danger-of-what-michael-savage-said/

Anonymous said...

Iams states they're not sponsors, but that they may buy ads that show up on the show. This is their message, my response.

**********************************
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From: Customer.Service@Iams.Com
To: me
Subject: Hello From Mary Lou @ Iams, 482518-111008333
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:30:55 -0400


Dear ,

Thanks for your message about our advertisements.

We appreciated your feedback, and we take your comments very seriously. I have shared your views with our Marketing Team.

The Iams Company is not a sponsor of the “Michael Savage Show.”

The appearance of our commercials on any particular show indicates neither our approval nor our disapproval of the content. When we purchase airtime from a media market, we do not always have program by program control of where our advertising will be placed. Also, advertisers are usually not given the opportunity to review the program content in advance.

Thank you again for letting us know how you feel.



Sincerely,

Marylou

Iams Pet Care Team Member

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Thank you for responding. In participating in this campaign, we have found that even companies that have specifically requested their ads not run on his show have not been listened to. We are hoping that companies will more strongly urge that his show be exempted from their media buys. Thank you again for your time.
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