Advertisers are dropping TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting because of the recent news about 27-year-old Josh Duggar’s admission of molesting five underage girls when he was a teen. It is believed that some of the girls might have been his own sisters. The backlash is snowballing, with big advertisers pulling their ads from the show, according to TMZ .
The Huffington Post reported that more advertisers are distancing themselves from 19 Kids and Counting . The list of advertisers is growing rapidly . On Wednesday, an itemized list of advertisers was revealed. Some advertisers did not hesitate. As soon as they heard about the scandal, they made a decision to break ties with the show and the network.
- General Mills
- Payless ShoeSource
- Choice Hotels
- Jimmy Dean
- Pure Leaf Iced Tea
- Ace Hardware
- David’s Bridal
- ConAgra Foods
- Party City
- Behr
- Pure Leaf Iced Tea
- Walgreens
Walgreens, a major advertiser of the show, said it will continue to monitor the scandal before determining whether to pull its ads or not. However, the latest news was that Walgreens had been added to the list. CVS, H&R Block, Ricola, and Keurig all said they have no plans of advertising with the series should TLC decide to keep 19 Kids and Counting on the air.
After several customers voiced complaints to Payless Shoes about the company’s ties to the show, Payless Shoes responded quickly.
“Our ads ran during this show as part of a larger buy with TLC. We are taking steps to have them removed from future episodes.”
Choice Hotels had a similar response.
“We have decided to remove our advertising from the show.”
TLC might keep the show on the air, but just not including Josh, the oldest son. While some say this decision would be a good middle ground, but it is troubling that Jim Bob and Michelle knew about the activity but did not turn their son over to the police. Instead, they kept it a private family matter.
“That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before. Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God.”
There is so much up in the air about the show, but the New York Daily News says TLC could take weeks or months working with advertisers behind the scenes to determine the future for 19 Kids and Counting . In the meantime, more advertisers might make the above list without discussing it with TLC.
What do you think about advertisers dropping TLC so rapidly?
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