There’s a big brouhaha brewing between an organization called Think Progress (TP) and Fox News Analyst Bill O’Reilly. After Billy Boyz ambushed ThinkProgress.org Managing Editor Amanda Terkel, TP is urging advertisers to pull their ads from Billy’s show. Here’s a response from a Ford spokesman who wasn’t spoking on behalf of Ford, but felt free to use FoMoCo’s imprimatur:
Thanks for the heads up. And while I agree with you about the rantings of the hopelessly pig-headed Mr. O’Reilly, recognize that I am just an innocent bystander in this email letter silliness. I work at Ford and support Ford, but have no idea how the decisions are made on where we advertise. Frankly, as a mainstream company, we advertise everywhere there are good ratings. That is not an endorsement of the show — that is recognition that people are watching the show. Don’t know why they watch that mindless ranting. But they watch in droves. Welcome to America, I guess.
Anyhow, the email campaign is just goofy. The 500 or so notes I am getting an hour are automatically deleted thanks to a simple program in Microsoft Outlook. Form letters are just annoying and easy to get rid of. So no real harm.
I saw the tapes of O’Reilly ambushing Hertzberg of the New Yorker a few month back. It demonstrated how moronic O’Reilly really is. I still read Hertzberg weekly in the New Yorker. And I never, ever watch Bill O’Reilly. Don’t know when he is on. Don’t care. And that’s how you get rid of a show, stop watching. When the ratings dive, the advertisers will leave. The network will kill it off. If we pull our advertising, others will simply pick up the empty spots, and happily so. The show will go on. Sadly.
I might suggest you consider another tactic though. The silly form letters are just annoying and easy to delete. Best of luck. If I had more time, I’d visit ThinkProgress.org. Too busy trying to get Ford back on its feet though. That is important. What Bill O’Reilly does or says is not important.
– spokesman Mark Schirmer, 3/25/09, speaking for himself and not on behalf of the Ford Motor Company
UPDATE [from TP]: Mark Truby, Director of Corporate Communications at Ford Motor Company, tells ThinkProgress over the phone on 3/25/09, Shirmer’s “comments don’t represent the view of Ford Motor Company.”
I never understood why certain people use others to get what they want or to prove a point. Remember a few years back when Ford was caught in the middle of a dustup due to placing ads in gay or gay-themed publications. Sure, Bill O is an asshat. Plain and simple but I think this shouldnt have anything to do with Ford.
This stuff is O’Reilly’s bread and butter. He’d be just another blowhard hypocrite, but by spending half his time on paranoid conspiracy theories about how everyone is out to get him, people start to think he’s important.
Ford, and Mark Shirmer, would do well to stay out of it. What O’Reilly does is sleazy, but not illegal and certainly not worth alienating potential customers.
I’ve never understood why people think that Corporate America is run by conservative thinking people. It is well known that the executives of Ford Motor Company are big libs, and have been big libs since at least Nasser came in to wreck the place. Most superwealthy and captains of industry are also extremely liberal – probably because they have massive egos, which fits in nicely with the “we know what’s best for the unwashed masses” mindset.
Do you think there may be a connection between flaming liberals and the destruction of a major U.S. industry?
Can’t be.
This whole idea that all that is happening in American business and industry is some how a Liberal versus Conservative ideological battle is silly. All of that debate makes great fodder for media pundits and politicians and it really has little bearing on what is really happening.
They should advertise with whoever has high ratings.
Bill O is a blowhard ignoramus, but it’s not like he is a Neo-Nazi or something. Ford should ignore this B.S.
The liberals are always anti free speech.
In the US the Constitution gets in the way whereas in Canada they patrol the internet and charge you if you make the a comment they don’t agree with.
I watch Fox news and O’reilly.I have also watched everything Michael Moore has produced.
Fact is,that the far right is every bit as nuts/scary as is the far left.
Moore and O’reilly are entertainers period.Now for real news you can’t beat CNN headline news in the morning.Robin Mead is so good looking,even the bad news goes down easy.
@bluecon They do that?I’m a Liberal and I just confessed to watching FOX.Gee I’m going to get booted out of the party.How about those guys at FOX anyway, they always give Canada a fair shake Eh!
Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer should be replaced. Not because of political ideology, but because he wasn’t able to make his point regarding the ineffectiveness of the Think Progress email campaign without including the Bill O’Reilly insults. One would expect better communications skill from someone in his position. Ford needs to continue to sell high-profit light trucks in the less urban more politically conservative parts of the country where O’Reilly would be viewed as a political moderate.
Why is the political nature of ThinkProgress not mentioned? It’s not just “an organization”.
I have little patience with O’Reilly and consider him a blowhard interested in ratings more than a consistent political ideology but Mark Schirmer made a terrible mistake in injecting Ford into a fight between a left wing publication and a conservative news network. His mistake is understandable when you consider that he’s political liberal. You see, liberals rarely think twice about expressing a political opinion on the job because they think that everyone, well everyone they know, thinks just like they do.
Political conservatives, tired of abuse from coworkers like Mr. Schirmer, tend to keep their political opinions to themselves while on the clock.
Ronnie, you’re right on the mark in all three paragraphs.
Wow TTAC! My first thought sighting this entry was surprise at your potentially baiting a flame war.
That said I will nibble at the bait.
To those to refer to “liberals” as “libs”, would they like it if people who disagree with “conservates” refer to them as “cons” ????
Certainly the past 8 years of Mr.Bush was indeed a massive “con” job on the USA.
Sorry can’t help it; conservatives have long been “cons” but now they surpassed it and have become to “torture” party.
Mark Schirmer made a terrible mistake in injecting Ford into a fight between a left wing publication and a conservative news network.
The complaint isn’t allegedly arising because of right vs. left, but because the tactics that O’Reilly used were allegedly underhanded.
Schirmer was basically saying: I might personally believe that O’Reilly sucks, but Ford Motor Company rightly chooses our advertising buying based upon ratings, not show quality. And while you’re at it, we don’t read yer frickin’ spam emails, either.
That sounds like someone who is separating business from pleasure, and who is trying to show that empathy and agreement don’t always correlate. He’s opening the door for other sponsors to do the same.
Any advertiser will go for the audience. Remember not to long ago, CNN advertised on Faux News, looking to “steal” viewers. Good ol’ Bill said “we will gladly take their (CNN) money. Fair enough. I think that Bill O’Reilly represents everything that I despise and I loath the thought of giving that hard right organization anything, but if I felt I could sell my product by advertising with Fox, I would do it, too. FWIIW, Fox has a large audience, and that blowhard is a big part of it. It’s just business. Advertising on the program in no way reflects approval of the program.
George B: O’Reilly as a moderate? Wow, that’s scary.
calling orielly a “news analyst” is like … like…. lying.
through their teeth.
Calling anything that fox does as “news” is like… like… lying.
And ford calling orielly a moron is more truth than i have heard from a domestic manufacturer in a long time.
I love reading about those critical of O’Reilly. My hunch is that those most critical haven’t spent any time watching his show. They read the criticism of him and take that as the gospel. Same thing with Rush Limbaugh.
You want to see a real hatefest? Watch Keith Olberman. Olberman was a great sports guy, but he’s a political wingnut.
“I love reading about those critical of O’Reilly. My hunch is that those most critical haven’t spent any time watching his show. They read the criticism of him and take that as the gospel.”
O’Reilly is the guy that blamed a rape victim for the rape because she “dressed suggestively”. It’s pretty safe to assume that he is human garbage and so is anyone who watches his show and takes it seriously.
Find me examples of some hateful stuff Olbermann has said, some quotes from his “hatefest”, something equivalent to the incident I referenced above (and that’s not the only repulsive thing O’Reilly has said over the years). I’ve heard many conservatives make the equivalency case between O’Reilly and Olbermann; I have yet to hea any of them back it up with anything substantial and not just empty “well you see! he’s just as bad!” soundbytes.
O’Reilly is an inflammatory idiot that I can’t stand to watch for even a moment. Same goes for Fox News. Schirmer’s letter was one I’d like to see directly from Ford. Of course, we’re never going to see anything like that from a mainstream company – too PC to actually have an opinion. It’s all about the money anyhow. The larger the company or the more people someone represents, the less they are willing to say. No surprise there.
I always find it amusing that people, even here, tend to think that there are only two types of people in the world – liberals and conservatives. How about the fact that many people, including myself, have things from each party that we support, along with others we do not. The tree-hugging liberals are about as common as the
religious-right conservatives – as in, they are not representative of either party. They are extremes that people brandish to mock and needlessly confine the other.
Our country is much more than a two-party political system in beliefs than most will admit. The system just hasn’t changed, simply because of money, greed and power from those who benefit from it as-is.
Ronnie Schreiber:
Why is the political nature of ThinkProgress not mentioned? It’s not just “an organization”.
The same reason there are billyins of ‘arch-conservatives’ in the news and no ‘arch-liberals’.
The complaint isn’t allegedly arising because of right vs. left, but because the tactics that O’Reilly used were allegedly underhanded.
That’s bovine excrement. Think Progress tolerates all sorts of journalistic excesses when it’s conservatives being ambushed. When has TP (I’d make a joke about an appropriate acronym, but that would be as immature as the above “cons” attempts at humor) ever complained about Michael Moore’s tactics of ambush interviews?
A smart Ford spokesman would have said “Obviously, in a country with a free press we can’t predict what news and comment will appear on the shows that we sponsor. Clearly, the views expressed on the news and public interest shows that Ford Motor Company sponsors do not necessarily reflect the views of Ford Motor Company.”
Fortunately we still have a market for advertising. Leave the politics and opinions aside. If enough sponsors don’t advertise on the show, it will lose money. The Fox News owners (Rupert Murdoch) don’t run a non-profit organization. The show will go away.
I suspect most of the criticizers of the show haven’t ever really watched it for any period of time. They’ve just read reports written by people who have never really watched the show.
I would further expect that Ford would like to sell automobiles to anyone with money. After all money is what they need now.
O’Reilly is the guy that blamed a rape victim for the rape because she “dressed suggestively”. It’s pretty safe to assume that he is human garbage and so is anyone who watches his show and takes it seriously.
I see you’ve gotten the talking points. I’m no fan of O’Reilly but what you’re doing is a smear.
Classic Alinsky tactics of the left: personalize and demonize the opposition.
Regarding Olbermann, he’s called the president of the United States a fascist more than once. Anyone that knows anything about fascism would call that a hateful remark. I’m sure if I called your sacred leader, Mr. Obama, a fascist (just after he’s forced out the head of a major corporation) you’d have a conniption.
For gosh sakes, Olberdouche has a regular feature The Worst Person In The World (an award that’s never gone to someone on the left, btw). Calling someone the worst person in the world isn’t hateful?
No news here. O’reilly, like Rush “the Hindenburg” Limbaugh, is a retarded douchbag.
Ronnie,
You had an administration in the last 8 years that have been accused of war crimes by numerous sources outside and inside of the your beloved country. May I add that Hitler’s top officials were also accused, tried, convicted and punished as war criminals. So comparing Bush & CO to the most famous fascist regime in history is not that far-stretched as it may seem. I will go further, I predict that within 10 years at least 1 or more Bush officials will be convicted of war crimes at least in one reasonably democratic court, most likely in Europe, but hopefully in your own country as well.
OK, enough of this.
We can all agree that extreme opinions on BOTH sides of the aisle are harmful to this country.
So please. Save the name-calling and labeling for those who aren’t capable of anything more.
Mark Schrimer wrote as an individual. Period. It doesn’t matter if he works for GM, Toyota, Bennihana,or the Queen of Sheba. His opinions are his opinions and nothing more.
I don’t watch TV. If you want to engage in a productive form of anger management I’d suggest eating strawberry pop tarts.
golden2huskey, Bill O’Reilly isn’t truly conservative in that he isn’t consistently skeptical about the ability of government to make things better. Supports more government intervention in energy policy on national security and climate change grounds, for example. O’Reilly will speak out in favor of government action when those actions are in alignment with his traditional views while true conservatives are very cautious about expanded government power even when relatively conservative politicians are in control. Contrast O’Reilly with former majority leader Dick Armey who spoke out against the concept of preemptive war, worked to prune back the Patriot Act, started the process to close unneeded military bases, pushed back strongly against James Dobson and the religious right, and pushed for a flat tax where the tax code would simply tax everything once at the same percentage rate with no effort to pick winners and losers. Armey is what I would call conservative.
Advertising on a show like O’Reilly’s does associate the advertised brand with the character. There are more possible place for Ford to find potential customers than it can possibly afford to advertise on, so they would be smart to pick and choose who they wish to associate with.
It’s right and proper advertisers be asked to consider how they enable and participate in rabid programming/false-idols.
Snuff Movies or Child Porn might rate unbelievably well on Fox, and I’m sure Ford would be very pleased to advertise during such programmes.
Wouldn’t you ask them WHY they do it and to please reconsider????
i watch alot of fox news. i watch bill o’reilly and i also flip to the racheal maddow show. these do have some political views but for the most part they show news in a entertaining light. if you have ever watched his show on a regular basis there is some substance there. say what you want but i like to see when he points the judges for doing stupid things like letting sex offenders out on probation. Points them out and shames them for the whole world to see. this hole thing when he said the girl was asking for it was a decision that he seems to have changed. this is apparent with the fact that he has been working with this girl named alexa and her foundation. It is a foundation that helps support rape victims proscute.however the more important subject i would think would be i dont know cars.
O’Reilly didn’t just “ambush” Ms Terkel. She was stalked and followed back to her home by one of his subordinates.
The question has nothing to do with Think Progress, Ms Terkel, or anything O’Reilly has ever said on his show. It has to do with harassment and the invasion of someone’s private property.
If Ford, or any other company, wants to support this type of behavior, I will boycott them, plain and simple. If O’Reilly apologizes and stops this stalking, I have no problem with Ford buying commercial time on his show. To my knowledge, Olbermann does not send out stalkers as does O’Reilly. This is a BIG difference.
ra_pro
Thanks for the laugh. Fortunately most Americans don’t give a fuck what Europeans think.
Fortunately most Americans don’t give a fuck what Europeans think.
Yes, it’s pitiful isn’t it??
Fortunately most Americans don’t give a fuck what Europeans think.
Yes, it’s pitiful isn’t it??
No, not at all.
REAL conservatives only drive Panther platform cars.
@ Kevin
In God We Trust or America Knows Best??? I can never remember as that total arrogance gives me a blinding migraine.
Either way, neither seems to work very well eh?
I respect his candidness, but Schirmer’s argument has a flaw.
He says Ford advertises on any popular program, but he doesn’t qualify that statement. Ford doesn’t advertise with Coulter or on Savage (I mean the fascist one, not the gay Savage). Obviously, Ford sees a boundary there somewhere and takes the simple matter of taste into account.
In most modern countries, a boorish, rude, bullying, hysterical person like O’Reilly would not be considered a proper environment for mainstream advertising. Sadly, in America, O’Reilly is within the mainstream. That is one of the things I dislike about the U.S. On the other hand, freedom of speech is in certain ways valued higher in America than in many other countries, and I can appreciate that very much.
Ouch, I may agree with Schirmer on the merits of the O’Reilly factor, but he never should have sent that email in his official capacity as a Fordl employee. There are no throw away customers in manufacturing, and this guy is proper f__ked if Fox takes issue with the email. As it should be.
Classic Alinsky tactics of the left: personalize and demonize the opposition.
Both sides do it, let’s be fair, it’s just not a problem when it’s people you agree with.
I’ve been on Artist boards where the term “Nazi” gets bandied about far too often by people who have a serious lack of perspective and too much time on their hands, and I’ve heard people who express an opinion contrary to the administration (any administration) called un-American and treasonous by people who don’t seem to understand what “freedom” actually means.
This is interesting, because it’s rare moment of candor by someone who’s job is, by definition, being a corporate flack. Personally, I’m glad to see it: I’d welcome a little more honesty and openness in discourse, rather than cowardice. Discretion may be the batter part of valour, but it’s also a really good way to allow demagoguery to run rampant, because the full breadth of peoples’ views aren’t expressed.
Think Progress tolerates all sorts of journalistic excesses when it’s conservatives being ambushed.
You miss the point. The complaint is with the fact that O’Reilly sent his minions to follow her around while she was on vacation.
If he wanted to interview her, he could have asked. Clearly, he was trying to catch her with her guard down in a place where she least expected it.
She’s not a politician or corporate leader, just a blogger. To hunt down a relatively unimportant person when a scheduled interview would have sufficed just makes him look petty and inclined to stifle criticism. He obviously doesn’t like the idea of having critics.
Yawn.
Wake me up when someone says something about cars.
Let’s see, Europe brought the world Totalitarianism, Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Collectivism, Feudalism, Anti-Semitism, and lots more…
Plenty of reasons for real Americans not to care what the current Euro-Nannies think…