Johnson and Johnson, the consumer goods giant that claims to be in support of American families, continues to dodge responsibility for its steady advertising on the David Letterman show since June 8 when Letterman made the offensive comments about Governor Palin and her daughter.
Yesterday, Johnson and Johnson completely failed to respond in a meaningful way to the thousands of emails and phone calls sent by members of the Fire David Letterman Movementasking them to issue a statement that they would not advertise further on Letteman until CBS held him to the same level of accountability they held Don Imus.
It's pretty clear that the company at present has no intention of responding. Perhaps they think that the loyalty of their customers who find Letterman's comments offensive something that isn't an important consideration.
Which is another reason why we should re-double our efforts today. Those of you interested in specific action steps can go to our website, www.FireDavidLetterman.com, sign up for the Facebook Group, and can see the action plan for today there.
The products Johnson and Johnson advertises on Letterman are:
Listerine
Aveeno
KY Brands
In addition to making the calls to Johnson and Johnson executives, please make a point of stopping by your local grocery store and letting them know you won't be purchasing these or any other Johnson and Johnson products for the duration.
For those of you tracking the shallow nature of Johnson & Johnson's commitment to "family values" consider the following: I have verified that the national organization they referenced in their emails of their commitment to "family values" on television -- The National Council for Families and Television -- wants nothing to do with the Letterman controversy. That small organization focuses merely on providing information on health issues to production professionals in the television industry involved in the creation of prime time programming.
It would be nice to see Johnson & Johnson actually act in a way that is consistent with the principles and values they claim to represent !
20 comments:
My favorite part of your plan is someone walking into CVS and asking to talk to the manager...."Sir I will not purchase Listerine from you due to the fact that Johnson & Johnson continues to advertise on David Letterman's show." "OK, madame, would you like a bottle of Scope?" "Oh, OK, thanks"
Good point.
Scope is made by Procter and Gamble, which has not advertised on Letterman during this period.
I wish this world would learn how to take a joke and stop ruining comedy. I think that most of you are just chasing your 15 minutes of fame at the expense of someone more successful than yourselves. Its rather more disgusting and distasteful if you ask me.
We understand Johnson and Johnson also sponsored abc's obamercial Wednesday night (we didn't watch, so can't verify).
It might be time to move-on and let this go.
The GOP must focus energy and resources on winning in the next election cycles. These sorts of discussions of 'Fire Dave Letterman' and 'Advertiser Boycotts', at this point, are not only wasteful, but a total distraction.
Less than 5 mil. people watched the Letterman show, they are all Dems, and no one else would have heard the joke or made an issue of it unless the Palins had (whoever advised the Palins to take-on this specific comedian on this issue is crazy - Letterman has been on TV for 25+ years - he is like the furniture - he's not moving and has used his pulpit for years to challenge all republican politicians - geez! even McCain had to go to him on hands and knees begging forgiveness for Pete's sake! after a perceived slight).
By acknowledging the joke, you legitimize the joke and the joke spreads. Does anyone recall any other jokes (and some were far worse) that mocked or satirized the Palins? If so, why the silence then? Where was the outrage regarding the pornographic movie 'Who's Nailin' Paylin?'? Nothing. Total silence. You either ignore it all or challenge it all. If people were going to be 'outraged' and prepared to defend the Governor, her family and women in general, the time to have started doing it was back in Sept 2008 when this all began. By not doing it then the gate was left wide open and now it is far to late. The silence then has created a situation where the Palins became an easy punchline.
Because of this early tactical mistake any future opportunity Pain might have on the national stage (and Alaska for that matter) will be heavily hampered - Palin has become the running 'gag' in a 'cultural joke' that will continue to erode both her and the GOP as long as she is in the limelight.
Sorry to say this Palin-fans, but it is time to regroup, focus on the 2010 mid-terms and seek new candidates for 2012. As for Ms. Palin, I think she is going to get a break for a couple of weeks while the comedians get Sanford out of their systems.
WHAT IS FIRING GOING TO DO? HE'LL JUST GET ANOTHER JOB IDIOTS. HES A COMEDIAN, LET IT GO.
Palin is an idiot anyways. And this is old. No one is going to listen to you because no on cares.
Anonymous said...
Some of the commenters after Leahy's article "just don't get it". Letterman is no longer funny. His crude jokes are angry and infantile, and maybe teenagers snicker at them but I would not call most of his jokes humor at all. Letterman has NOT apologized to airline employees for calling them "sluts". (Slutty make-up). Most people would agree that is just not funny.
Seriously, let me get this straight, if the Obama girls were smeared in the way that the Palin daughter was smeared, that would be perfectly acceptable? I can't believe that anyone would say that a mother should not stand up for her daughter. Children of celebrities/politicians should be off limits. It is not funny, nor acceptable to say these kinds of things about anyone - whether they are children or not - but most certainly should NEVER ever be said about children. Women are treated so cruelly by the so called "comedians" and they are just supposed to take it? I say YEAH to Sarah Palin for standing up and saying enough! Make these companies realize that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated.
To the anonymous poster that said Letterman is just not funny and most people would agree...says who? Did you take a poll on this? I would bet most people do still think he's funny, and most people do laugh at his "angry and infantile" jokes. If not, he wouldn't still be on the air 5 nights/week making millions.
I called to complain and they guessed that I was referring to the David Letterman incident... :) So I made my complaint and left my name and number. It is true that advertisers do respond, especially in tough economic times, to consumer concerns. If they get just 10 handwritten letters...they will do something. I always encourage people to write a quick note tot he snail mail address as it gets kicked to the top.
Somebody tell Letterman that his jokes about Sarah Palin are getting old and worn out. He needs to get some new writers
I really like David and I think that Sarah needs to go away please, just leave america alone. It is too bad that such nonsense fills the news, while there are real problems to solve. GET REAL
I don't know how old some of these comments are....probably old....but I like to see what kind of nonsense is still being spread out there on this site.
As far as the comment that "Letterman isn't funny any more" is concerned, many still think he is funny. My 73 year old father thinks he's funny, as does my 67 year old mother. I still like him. Many of my friends love him.
Concerning the comment that the late night comedians treat women so cruelly....sorry you feel that way, but tonight, Letterman made fun of Obama, Bill Clinton, and Mayor Bloomberg....all men....and he does this often. He makes fun of himself often, even of his previous drinking problems.
Dave as well as others have been getting their kicks out of Mark Sanford and John Ensign the past couple of weeks...men.
Concerning the comment about Letterman not apologizing to flight attendants.....does he need to apologize to every one and every group he's ever made fun of??? It should be noted that earlier this year, Letterman had Captain Sullenberger and 2 or 3 of the flight attendants on that flight....he treated them with nothing but respect. Dave is not the evil, cruel monster many on this site make him out to be.
Do you really think that telling a store owner you are not going to buy those products will have any effect? Store owners will only care IF there is a drastic decrease in sales of a certain product. Guess what? I work for J&J, and there hasn't been. Get over yourself. Free speech remember? I'm proud that J&J has not responded to this pointless campaign. Why don't you focus on the good things that people and organizations do?
Going after Johnson & Johnson may not have been the best strategy...a group called Life Decisions International (LDI) has been boycotting Johnson & Johnson for decades now because J & J sponsors Planned Parenthood. That's right, the world's biggest maker of baby products uses the money they make selling baby products to support the killing of innocent babies. After a decades long boycott, J & J still has not quit this practice.
What an incredible waste of time. Forget that there are people starving in the world. Somebody said something mean about Sarah Palin's daughter. Whoop de doo. Let's all get our panties in a wod. Letterman is VERY funny much of the time. If you don't like him, don't watch. Why not do more positive things?
People should be offended by Letterman because he isn't funny: he's old, he's cranky, and he's biased. It's like watching Andy Rooney every night for an hour. What a waste of time.
Its not about what but who
if we replace the name of sarah palin with ANY LIB Obama Clinton Cater their would be a cascade of outrage from the PC crowd. we get it so republican will continue to take the high road they are too busy paying taxes and caring for others to get caught up in the media playbook
The Johnson Company is by no means a family company...ask any of it's soon to be laid off workers,so they can ship jobs over seas for a much cheaper product saving them money.
You are an idiot for considering this.
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