Advertisers Take Wait-And-See Approach To Imus

Who’s ready to take a chance on Don Imus again? ABC Radio and Rural Media Group’s RFD-TV will put him back on the air Dec. 3, but most advertisers are holding back for now, even those who’ve been Imus supporters in the past.

Mr. Imus’ show has had a “proceed with caution” sign on it since Procter & Gamble backed out of MSNBC’s simulcast of CBS Radio’s “Imus in the Morning” in April following racially charged remarks Mr. Imus made regarding members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

Steve Boerneman, president-general manager of WABC in New York, said “Imus” will premiere with “advertisers who are strong Imus supporters and … stayed with him throughout the controversy.” Ad Age contacted several national advertisers that bought his former show, and several seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach before committing to Imus 2.0.

In neutral gear

General Motors, a longtime sponsor of Mr. Imus, said it will evaluate the new show’s format, content and audience before returning as an advertiser, “just like we would with any other media buy,” a company spokeswoman said. Other carmakers avoided the show even before Mr. Imus’ controversial remarks.

Verizon, a previous sponsor of Mr. Imus and one of the top spenders on the show’s home station said it has no plans to advertise on the program. Other major WABC spenders, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Home Depot, could not confirm whether they would be buying the show.

Estimates of Imus’ previous show’s worth — carried by 61 stations outside New York — ranged from $15 million to $22 million annually for home station WFAN-AM in New York.

Major radio buyers have received lukewarm responses from their clients. “I don’t know if any of my advertisers have come to me saying, ‘We want to be involved,’” said Matthew Warnecke, VP-local and national radio for MediaCom. “It’s another outlet for our clients’ units, and we’ll plan when it’s appropriate.”

– By Andrew Hampp

Popularity: 2% [?]

Imus’s remarks about the women on the NJ basketball team were not “a relative small gaff, a mis-spoken bit of bad taste” but rather the latest in a long line of racially insulting remarks rendered on air by Imus and his crew.

So he raises money for sick children and then deliberately insults African American people. This makes him a good person? Please!

A racist is a racist is a racist. A pig by any other name is still a pig. etc…..

Those who support Imus support racism and might as well admit that they are in favor of such racist remarks. And that includes all of the so-called liberals who are lining up to appear on his show. If Imus can get away with saying such insulting things then why not everyone?

Advertisers who support Imus’s program show that they are not interested in selling to certain ethnic communities. Why should any African American buy from a company that financially supports a racist radio/tv host? I certainly will not and I will encourage my friends to boycott such companies also. Perhaps America is now filled with enough racists to enable these advertisers to profit without the multi-billion-dollar consumer input of the black community.

There is really something pitiable about whites who need for some reason to display racism by the use of such words and terms as those used by Imus et al. Such usage points out people who have a lack of self-esteem and confidence in themselves and thus they have to resort to calling names of others to make themselves feel powerful .

Funny, I don’t hear Imus and his sidekick calling Jewish people or Polish people or Irish people or German people insulting names.

You are right. I don’t listen or watch Imus. He is a graven, ugly old fool in my opinion and your remarks show that insulting racist words are something that you enjoy. Pitiful….

What is insulting about not “making Jews like Jesus anymore?” After all, It is true that Jesus was a Jew. So how are those words insulting? Are there other words in the song that call Jesus degrading names or call Jews degrading names?

What’s wrong with comparing Rush Limbaugh to members of the KKK when it is true that Limbaugh behaves in that manner? And Limbaugh certainly reaches out to that white supremacist audience, so how is comparing him to the KKK insulting if he identifies with their philosophy?

It is NOT TRUE that the women on the NJ team are “nappy-headed ho’s.” It is insulting to refer to them in this manner and if you find his doing so to be just a “stupid joke” then evidently you don’t watch his show since he has routinely insulted African Americans.

I would say that your defense of Imus is rather weak but then what should I expect from someone who wants to listen to someone call people names?

The fact that Imus publicly calls his wife a “ho” shows more about her character than his. She is with him for the money, otherwise why would ANY woman allow her husband to refer to her in such a degrading manner. And what kind of person must YOU be to defend him by using such a sick example. A man calling his wife a “ho” is not funny.

We both know that if Imus said anything insulting toward Jewish people, especially if related to the Holocaust, he would be hanging from a lamppost in Times Square!

Satire def: Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

NHH Satire | Old white guy talking “hip-hop”

ChanX
Irony is wasted on the stupid - Jonathan Swift

All I know is that I can’t wait to find out who will be sponsoring the new IITM so that I can open up my wallet and start spending on their products, services, etc. Imus fans and parents like me who have autistic children (Imus is our champion) have been boycotting Proctor & Gamble, GM and Staples since April and all three companies have lower earnings - coincidence? I think not.

C. White, to tell me I am racist because I support Imus is so pathetically obtuse that I cannot believe anyone would attempt such a poor logical connection.

Of course I can only conclude that you are a member of a group that has already decided and thats okay. I understand that folks will refuse to think or pay attention they will take their view and try to make every one else subject to it.

As for the Imus advertisers, well they can choose to ignore advertising on the show at their peril. I have paid very close attention to who dumped out on Imus in April. I was in line to buy a new vehicle, however after GM pulled their support of the Imus show I changed my purchase from a Chevy Truck to a Subaru Outback. I don’t purchase P&G products, I have not purchased anything at Staples etc etc. I will listen and watch the new show and I will pay attention and I will patronize the advertisers of Imus wherever possible.

Any former advertiser that once supported the “Imus in the Morning Show” that doesn’t get behind him now are wimps and will lose their support of IMUS. The NHH statement does not make a great talk show host the worst person in the world. Many words used by the Main Stream Media are worse. Yet are ignored.

And Mr. White. Those that have your view need not comment anywhere. Ignorance is bliss. And your living in a world of make believe. Listen to NPR they don’t say anything near the line but then no one listens to that broadcast.

You don’t become a Radio Icon by reading from a script. You haven’t figured that out so there is no help for you.

Bruce from Florida

C. White,

It’s easy to build a straw-man. Just take a two word phrase and a list of lines taken out of context, give them a meaning contrary to their original intent and use that to sum up a thirty-four year career.

What is more contemptible is you do it out of ignorance. You attempt to instruct others and even worse decide for them what is appropriate for listening when you yourself know nothing of the show is disgraceful. Your generalizations of The Imus in the Morning audience is offensive not to mention incorrect.

As for the phrase Nappy-headed ho’s…

As a thirty year veteran listener of the Imus in the morning show, I saw the joke. It failed, but jokes sometimes do, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

First of all you have to understand that there’s a distinction between the “Character” Don plays on the radio and the “character” of Don Imus the man. The Radio character is a curmudgeon a kin to that of Archie Bunker or George Jefferson. The Man Don Imus is the one who urged his audience to fight the truly racist attacks on Harold Ford during his Senatorial bid.

And secondly You need to look at what was said and how it was said. The phrase “nappy-headed ho” was never intended as an insult but as emphasis on the toughness of the Rutger’s team’s appearance …

DON IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between — a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women’s final.

(Let me point out, he watched the game. Compare that to the comments made by another WFAN host. I won’t mention which host, but he and his partner were reviewing the ratings received by various sporting events and when they got to the Rutgers Semi-final game he went on a long tirade about “why anyone would even bother watching that.” I found that far more offensive and misogynistic than anything Imus said)

SID ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night — seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and –

(that’s the context, he was talking about how tough looking they were in comparison to the Tennessee team and how surprised he was they lost. Remember they’re Athletes not beauty queens. To reiterate the point Bernie switches to urban slang. (that’s the joke “two white guys using urban slang”))

BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don’t know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes — that movie that he had.
IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough –

CHARLES McCORD: Do The Right Thing. (He meant ‘School Daze’)

(It’s a direct simile comparing the two teams to the two groups in the Movie)

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

It was a failed joke taken out of context.

Listen to the show for a week or two, make up your own mind instead of allowing others to tell you what to think. Go to WWW.ImusTruth.com listen to past clips and interviews. Do some actual research before issuing blanket statements and then, and only then might I respect your opinion.

As I suspect is true of many of the posters here, I watched/listened to the Imus show for many years. The first thing you learned was that he made fun of EVERYONE…and usually it was funny. The second thing you learned was his dedication to helping those in need, raising money for the children’s charities, the kids who benefited from a stay at his ranch, the major increase in death benefits provided to the U. S. military, bringing attention to the issues of autism. The benefits of those activities were shared by people of all races. He is not a racist. If the African American community doesn’t like the phrase he used then my opinion is “clean up your own doorstep”. Black people use that phrase and other equally (or worse) offensive with no apparent back lash. I will support his new advertisers and boycott the wimps who bailed out at the first hint of problems. I hope he refuses to allow them to advertise on his new show. I’m look forward to his great interviews, excellent book and music recommendations and his humor.

I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:

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