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For more information contact American Decency Association at (231)924-4050
or email us at comment@americandecency.org
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THE HOWARD STERN TELEVISION SHOW - ADVERTISER
WITHDRAWALS AS OF 11/15/01 (when the show was discontinued) |
Below we have listed for you the advertiser withdrawal percentages from our three year campaign of monitoring CBS's Saturday late night Howard Stern TV show.
Here is a brief explanation. We wrote letters to each advertiser that advertised (often more than once). [COUPLED WITH MANY OF YOU WHO ALSO WROTE]
Out of 2,668 advertisers who were written to - 2,503 discontinued advertising on the show. Another way of looking at it, is that 93% of the advertisers who we wrote to discontinued advertising on the Stern show.
So, for example, you will see below that 108 various companies advertised on the Stern TV show in PITTSBURGH. Along the way 106 of the companies discontinued advertising on the show. That is an advertiser withdrawal percentage of 106/108 or 98%.
THE HOWARD STERN TELEVISION SHOW - ADVERTISER
WITHDRAWALS AS OF 11/15/01 (when the show was discontinued)
Baltimore (93%) -- 178/201
Boston (95%) -- 301/314
Chicago (93%) -- 274/293
Dallas (87%) -- 97/111
Detroit (94%)-- 208/219
Indianapolis (78%) --32/41
Los Angeles (97%) -- 265/271
Miami (96%) -- 249/259
MINNEAPOLIS (97%) --187/191
NEW YORK (93%)-- 202/215
PHILADELPHIA (89%) -- 238/266
PITTSBURGH (98%)--106/108
WASHINGTON D.C. (92%) 166/179
TOTAL 2,503/2,668 for an
advertiser withdrawal percentage of 93% |
| Q: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES MONITORING THE HOWARD STERN SHOW MAKE ON TV? |
| A: We have been a main force behind monitoring Howard Stern on Saturday night TV since its advent in August 1998. With the faithful help of many caring and committed volunteers across the country, we have been able to furnish many people with advertiser lists. We have seen since the very beginning that Stern/CBS has had a difficult time developing a broadbased corporate following. Still the perverse TV show continues. How unfortunate. Our concern remains that a program like this can lead to similar damaging, desensitizing, degrading, addicting programming. That's the desire of people like Stern - to champion sexual openness - without restraint. Writing letters to advertisers IS important. It keeps the corporate world aware that their advertising choices are being watched, and they will be held accountable. |
| Stern fan comments |
Get a life man! I find it interesting that on your website that sponsors that allegedly pulled advertising don't have names? Can you think for yourself? If you don't like his show, you spend an awful lot of time listening to it and documenting everything that is said on it. Aren't you worried that you will be corrupted by his viewpoints? Can't you except that not everyone is like you? Nobody agrees with everything he says on the show. It is just entertainment and nothing more. Anyone who could be led down the wrong path by Howard Stern could certainly be tricked into your viewpoint. Doesn't God want people to make a conscious decision to do the right thing?
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-Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse.. |
| ADA COMMENTS -- |
| SADLY, We can't depend upon the FCC holding Howard Stern accountable to the law. But, we can make an impact by writing letters to the advertisers. |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
November 11, 2002
American Decency Association
Attn: Mr. Bill Johnson,
National Campaign Coordinator, Stem Project
P.O. Box 202
Fremont, MI 494 12-0202
USA Dear Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for providing direct feedback to ..., President & CCO, .... ... has asked me to reply on his behalf. I am responding to your letter of concern regarding ... advertising specifically during the radio program "The Howard Stem Show" on WBZX, Columbus, OH.
At ...l, we have strict guidelines stipulating that our commercials air within programming that reflects our positive image. We do not condone or allow the ... brand to be advertised on programs that conflict with those guidelines.
However, since our advertising is on a national level our advertisements are used by the network affiliates. Our media department is doing everything within their power to make sure that our guidelines are adhered to in the future. We appreciate your concern and applaud your commitment to pro-family entertainment and thank you for your patience while we researched this issue. Once again, thank you for your feedback. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you may have experience. We look forward to re-earning your loyalty and hope you will continue to enjoy the great taste of ... . Sincerely, ....
Customer Service |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
November 1, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Regarding your letter of October 24, it has been our policy at ... to not advertise on programs that may be offensive to our customers, shareholders or employees. With that in mind, we do not include programs like the Howard Stern Show on our advertising schedule.
After receiving your letter, we contacted WNCX and found that, without our approval, the station ran two of our spots on the program as a "bonus." In response, we reiterated our policy regarding potentially offensive programming and reaffirmed that future advertising from our company should be restricted to other time slots on the station.
We appreciate you taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.
Sincerely,
...
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| Advertiser withdrawal |
October 31, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your recent inquiry with regard to ... brand advertising airing on WNCX FM in Cleveland during the Howard Stern Show. It is not our intention, nor has it ever been our intention, to schedule our advertising on the Howard Stern Show. The commercial that your assocation heard was scheduled in error. At ..., it is our policy to be conscious of the content in which our brand advertising is adjacent to, as it is our intention to avoid controversial or potentially offensive programming.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Cordially,
.... |
| Letter from advertiser |
October 17, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your letter dated October 11, 2002 informing us that our company's advertisement was aired during the Howard Stern show on WKLQ (Grand Rapids).
Our policy is that we will not allow our commercials to air on any "questionable" type of shows and is specifically outlined in our contracts with the stations. We were unaware that it was airing during our show.
We have cancelled with the particular station mentioned in your letter and will cancel any others that should air our commericials during "questionable" programming.
Again, thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Sincerely,
... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
August 15, 2002
Thank you for your letter expressing concern about our advertising on the Howard Stem Show. Having worked hard to build our reputation as a community bank, I can honestly say that an association with the Howard Stern show is neither the way we do business or want to be identified. After receiving correspondence from other concerned individuals, we discovered that we were in fact advertising on this show. We used a media buying specialist to help us obtain advertising time based on a target demographic. Unfortunately, this placed our ad in association with the Howard Stern Show. It was a mistake and we have immediately ceased all advertising during his show. Should you have any additional questions regarding this issue, please do not hesitate to contact me at .... Again, thank you for your concern. Sincerely, |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
July 18, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
We received your letter requesting us not to purchase advertising in magazines that you consider offensive.
While we do not believe it is to be our role to censor the content of media sources, we are mindful of the increasing public concern that media should not exceed the bounds of good taste.
To this end, we have advised our advertising agencies and their representatives to avoid media that is not in good taste, or which may be viewed as offensive by the majority of consumers. Your comments are important to us and have been forwarded to the appropriate personnel.
We appreciate and share your concern in this matter, and thank you for taking the time to express your viewpoint to us.
Sincerely,
...
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| Stern's advertiser list not impressive in his own backyard |
| A cursory look at several days of advertiser lists from WXRK, New York City, indicates a continued decline in the number of advertisers and that the core of the advertisers are Infinity related. |
| National Advertiser withdrawal |
We have been receiving letters such as this for the past couple of years
and have attempted to explain our situation. We purchase time from the
station, and they place our advertisement. We have no control over a
specific program. For two years we have notified all of our agencies that
we do not wish to be placed next to The Howard Stern Show.
If you could provide us with specifics on time and station, we will cure our
problem. We happen to agree with you. The Howard Stern Show is certainly
not our choice.
Yours Truly, ... , President/CEO |
| Advertiser letter |
May 28, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your recent letter regarding our corporation's advertising on the Howard Stern radio program on WBCN in Boston.
Upon looking into the situation, I can inform you that the advertisement you referred to was part of a very short-term schedule that was placed locally by one of our representatives in that market and has subsequently ended. ....
Sincerely,
... |
| Advertiser letter |
June 4, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for contacting ... and for sharing your concerns regarding our radio advertising.
I have shared your concerns regarding the programming during which the ... ads was aired with the appropriate partners (employees) for their immediate attention. We appreciate feedback from our customers and will continue to work with our advertising agency to ensure that our advertising placement is consistent with the expectations of our customers. ...
Sincerely,
... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
June 3, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your letter regarding the ... advertising on radio station KYNG-FM. By way of this letter, I would like to explain ...'s involvement with the station.
.... We certainly do not support nor condone Mr. Stern. We have subsequently cancelled our buy on KYNG-FM.
...
Sincerely, |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
| May 6, 2002
In an effort to expedite a response to your letter dated May 21, 2002 to the
... located in Memphis, TN; I am responding via email.
This morning I received and read your letter dated May 21, 2002.
I am the owner of this location as well as several others. After reviewing
your letter, I did some research to determine what has actually happened.
As an advertiser, we buy specific programming on specific stations. I can
assure you that Howard Stern (and any others similar to him) has never been
a part of our scheduled advertising buys nor will they ever in the future.
I am a born again Christian and daily attempt to be a positive witness. My
character and my witness will be damaged by associating with the likes of a
derelict like Stern. If I can help it, I'll never intentionally be associated with those that undermine my personal beliefs and standards. To that end, I pray that you'll see that I am totally on your side.
After researching this matter, I have found the following and will share
this information with you. WMFS is not a station that we have ever advertisied on. Honestly, I didn't even know that Stern was on the air in Memphis. However, I do advertise with a company called Metro Networks that handles all of the traffic reports for virtually all of the radio market in Memphis. Their traffic reports are broadcast over the individual radio stations with a corporate sponsor (such as ....). During the course of this email, I have spoken with my ad agency that places the actual radio advertising buy in Memphis. I have directed that absolutely no advertising is to run during Stern's show and WMFS.
Hopefully, this will never occur again. However, if your monitoring of this
station proves otherwise, I ask that you contact me as soon as practical. I
can assure you I'll take whatever measures necessary to not be associated
with Howard Stern.
I applaud your efforts and your direction.
...
President
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| Advertiser withdrawal |
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your recent letter to our chairman, ..., regarding our advertising on WYSP radio in Philadelphia. Your letter brought to our attention a scheduling issue of which we were not aware. While we run a schedule on WYSP, our instructions explicitly include any airings in the Howard Stern Show. Due to a scheduling oversight, WYSP ran four UPS mentions in that show. We have made the station aware of our serious concern with this oversight, and should it happen again, we will immediately cancel our schedule with the station.
As one of this country's premier brands, ... is very sensitive to the type of programming with which we associate our messaging. We have strict content guidelines and our agencies work closely with us to make sure they are followed. In this case, WYSP made an unfortunate scheduling error.
We appreciate your interest in ... and your bringing this issue to our attention.
....
National Advertising Manager |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
May 22, 2002
Mr. ... forwarded me a letter you sent on 5/15 regarding ... advertising on WNCX during the Howard Stern show.
I want to assure you that ... does not place any advertising with the Howard Stern show. We have contacted the station to ensure it does not happen.
Please delete ... name from any listing.
Thank you.
... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
May 6, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
We are in receipt of your letters addressing the indecency of Howard Stern on his radio and television shows. You also address the fact that you, or your organization, have heard or seen a ... advertisement during the Howard Stern time slot at some time.
Let me assure you that we do not buy advertising time on Howard Stern. We found out, after the fact, that our ad was inadvertently placed during an open time slot which happened to fall during the airing of this show. We immediately informed our media management group to make sure we were not seen on the Howard Stern show. This also goes for all indecent and immoral radio and television programming around the country. ...
We will be addressing the stations through our media buyers. Lisa assured me that she would call me directly with any further airings on Stern, so we could address them immediately....
We do not choose to have "bad marks" attributed to us by having our advertisements air on shows such as the Howard Stern show. Please add our name to the list of companies that choose to keep our advertising money away from the Howard Stern show.
Thank you for the work you and the American Decency Association do for us and America!
Sincerely,
....
President |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
May 15, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
I am writing in response to your letter of May 8 to ... concerning advertising on the Howard Stern Show. While w are advertising on WBZX in Columbus, we did not place this buy to run during the Stern Show. In fact, we gave specific direction to the station that we did not want our spots to run during the Stern Show.
We have been in contact with the radio station and they have assured us that our spots will not run during this time slot. They will be providing us verification of the time slots and programming in which our spots will be run.
... is sensitive to any and all issues that we perceived as improper to society. We consider ourselves as good corporate citizens and always conduct business in such a way to project such image.
Thank you for bringing this information to our attention and allowing us to address this issue. ...
... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
May 9, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
This is in response to your letter dated April 23, regarding a ... brand advertisement that aired within the Howard Stern Radio Show on WKRK Detroit.
The advertisement that you heard was for a ... brand and was aired in error without the knowledge of our company. ... as policy does not advertise its brands within media vehicles that contain controversial content. We have contacted WKRK in Detroit and communicated our policy with regard to editorial content for our brand advertising. WKRK has assured us that our policy is fair and that they will honor its intent.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
Regards,
.... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
May 9, 2002
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for your letter of April 29, 2002, regarding the placement of ... advertising on the Howard Stern Show.
Please be advised that much of our ... advertising is purchased on a local level by independently owned and operated regions, offices and/or sales associates. ... does not oversee placement or contribute financially to such advertising efforts as you reference, on a day-to-day basis.
However, we have looked into the allegations, as in the past, when you have raised concerns regarding the Howard Stern Show. The region informs us that it has reallocated any spots to other stations or dayparts, therefore, removing themselves from any affiliation with the Howard Stern Show.
Thank you for your interest and concern, as we will consider the matter closed.
Best regards,
... |
| Advertiser withdrawal |
April 30, 2002 Dear Mr. Johnson: I am writing in response to your letter sent April 24, 2002 regarding advertisement on ... and the Howard Stern Show. We were unaware that our advertisement was being aired during this time. We are a not-for-profit organization and the airtime was donated to us as a favor to help advertise our Open House that was held [recently]. Our advertisement was only being aired the week before the Open House and has since been taken off the air. We appreciate your concerns! Sincerely,
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