Am I to believe that within a few days of uttering his regrettable comment (which went unnoticed for about two days) that the sponsors of Imus in the Morning suffered hits at the checkout line? ... or was it just threats? Face it, the Sharpton/Jackson crowd can pick on Imus but won't pick on the entertainers who spew the kind of stuff daily that Imus barely uttered. It's just a bad joke really...
LOL. I'm sure they could determine the long term viability of Imus's show in the four days leading up to his termination. I mean, they had no concern before this, considering CBS had signed him to six years a year before, but yeah...this was "the last straw." They were totally planning on getting rid of him, at the behest of the corporations advertising on his show for the past twenty years, before Al Sharpton reared his ugly, fat head. Totally...
I always find it funny how people think they are all marketing geniuses without any understanding of the industry or the way things work. You're totally wrong. Not just somewhat wrong - but completely wrong. The sponsors didn't pull because of any reason except for one. They don't want Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to come after them and create the perception that they support a racist in the media. They are afraid of that, so they pull. If it wasn't for Jackson / Sharpton, they would remain sponsors because no one would care or notice. Now you can argue that's a business decision, but in reality - it's one based on the power of a few men to cause trouble. Once things have calmed down and Jesse and Sharpton have milked this for what it's worth and move on to other things to get attention, the sponsors will come back to Imus. Not the same ones necessarily - but they will come back....after all - it's in their business interests to. Oh yeah, brand "assoication" does impact immediate sales.
No, what is wrong is thinking that things like perception, branding, and bad media exposure are not part of the free market. Everything you posted about is part of free market economics, which is essentially business making business decisions with maximizing profits in mind. Good publicity is part of the free market, as is bad publicity. When these sponsors attached themselves to a controversial show, that was part of the market, and making the decision to not be attached to controversy is as well. To act like that's not the case is simply ludicrous. So? Having influence and the ability to shape public perception is part of the free market. Same reason Nike goes out and recruits Lebron James to push their products. Not sure why you put association in quotes and then spelled it wrong? The brand association we are talking about here does not impact immediate sales. Imus' ratings skyrocketed after this incident, but it wasn't because there were tons of new fans - lots of people that are angry and upset tune into these kinds of things. If you are angry, and here a product, you will associate the two. You won't sit there and say "I'm not buying a Toyota" anymore - that would be an immediate impact. You'll just have a subconcious negative association. The flipside is also true, which is why you want to sponsor things with a positive reception. For example, that OJ thing that Fox was going to have had no sponsors even though tons of people were going to watch it - they were going to be disgusted by him and that's not what you want to associate a brand with. This is about as basic marketing as you can get.
You have no idea what you are talking about concerning this specific situation, so of course it would seem irrelevant. But please...continue with your condescending, generalized lecture on marketing. I'm just kidding. Please don't do that... Read up on this topic when you have the chance, okay? It wasn't that long ago, so I'm sure there are a lot of articles that can be found through google news. Check if Tom Oliphant wrote anything. I like him. After you have done this, then you can apply your rudimentary understanding of the market to this specific situation. Until then, good luck, sir. I must go finish my ECO 300 coloring book ( I get to color in Ben Bernanke's beard!!!) and eat some paste. I can't click here anymore... This isn't helping me cope with the loss of the I-man. Bye. ...
ECON* I apologize for that last post. I am a good person that said a bad thing. Okay, I feel better. Now I am done with it.
