Yesterday Premiere Networks, the company which promotes and sells Rush Limbaugh’s show, announced that they were suspending national advertising for the show for the next two weeks. The move comes after Limbaugh referred to Sandra Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute” after she advocated for birth control coverage before Congress. According to a list compiled by Think Progress , Limbaugh has now lost over 140 sponsors since he made those accusations against Fluke. Premiere is clearly hoping to take some heat off of Limbaugh with the suspension and instead rely on less visible local advertisers. However, two national advertisers are sticking with Limbaugh despite the controversy overhiscomments. In their statement Premiere instructs local radio stations to, “Replace them [other national ads] with Lifelock and Lear Financial or a local spot of your choice.” The statement begs the question as to why Lear and Lifelock would be willing to still financially support Limbaugh when 140 other businesses have deemed sponsorship of the show as either unprofitable or unethical.
Lear Financial and Lifelock share a number of characteristics which may enable them, or even force them to continue sponsoring Limbaugh. Both companies operate on a fear-based approach to selling which may appeal to Limbaugh’s audience. In addition, both companies have been accused of misleading their customers. A relatively simple investigation of the two companies would likely lead many to avoid doing business with them altogether. To overcome this weakness, the two companies may be relying on the endorsement of Limbaugh. When Limbaugh’s loyal listeners hear him endorse the two companies, they likely trust Limbaugh and investigate no further as they do with many of Limbaugh’s claims.
Lifelock is the most obvious example. The company claims to provide identity theft protection, clearly working off the of the fears many have about this particular crime. However, one of the co-founders of the company actually resigned in 2007 amid allegations that he had stolen his father’s identity and used it to run $150,000 in fraudulent charges on an American Express card. So Lifelock, who sells themselves as an identity protection company, was actually founded by a man who allegedly stole someone’s identity.
Todd Davis, the former CEO of Lifelock, once famously posted his Social Security in public as proof that Lifelock’s services worked. A subsequent investigation found that Davis was a victim of identity theft 13 times after posting that private information . In 2010, Lifelock was fined $12 million by the Federal Trade Commission to “settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services., which it widely advertised by displaying the CEO’s Social Security number on the side of a truck.”
Lear Financial is essentially a gold selling company. Over the past few years conservative voices like Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, and Limbaugh have prominently relyied on gold-selling companies for sponsorships. Beck’s television and radio show was supported by Goldline, and Beck told his listeners to “trust the people at Goldline.” Last November Goldline was formally charged with fraudulent selling practices . Specifically, Goldline was accused of running a “bait and switch” operation in which customers were tricked into buying gold coins that were marked up more than 50%.
Some customers of Lear Financial have made similar complaints against the company , arguing that they were directed away from their initial desired purchase towards other products that may have more of markup. Customers also complain of not being informed of the true value of the products they are purchasing from Lear. The “Shipping and Transaction Agreement” that all Lear customers must agree to contains fine print which describes how Lear is entitled to a profit margin and a “spread,” otherwise known as a markup, on the products they sell. This agreement can be read by clicking on an otherwise indistinguishable link at the bottom of Lear’s website.
Limbaugh and Beck encourage their listeners to buy gold based on the fear that hyper-inflation or a market collapse may someday ensue. However, their listeners are not informed about the tremendous markups these companies make when selling gold coins. In some cases, consumers would need to sell their gold at double the price they bought it for just to recoup their initial investment.
If these sponsors dropped Limbaugh it may cause their customers to start looking a bit deeper into their past practices. If the two companies stick with Limbaugh they will face some backlash from the broader public, but this likely matters little to Lifelock and Lear. The most important is keeping the blind trust of their current and potential consumers, and that blind trust largely relies on the sponsorship of Limbaugh.
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, Join the crowd Wilson, it is an eddy not just circles .... extremely confused eddy. Lots of books, lots of unrelated out-of-context statements and lots of weird questions.
(It's too easy though. Not even a sport!)
Same thing happened to Glenn Beck when his attacks became too violent; couldn't have happened to two nicer people.