And now begins the bleeding.
Michael Savage's b.s. attempt at blunting criticism of his attack on autistic children isn't working, at least as far as insurance company Aflac is concerned.
Aflac announced today (July 21) that it is pulling its ads from the nationally-syndicated talk radio show The Savage Nation. A rep for the insurance provider told Brandweek that it will no longer advertise on the show hosted by Michael Savage (real name Michael Alan Weiner) because of offensive comments he made about children with autism.This is what is known as a market-based solution to a problem. The Savage Nation attacked autistic children. The parents and families of autistic children appealed to The Savage Nation's sponsors to withdraw their support from the show. At least one sponsor has done so, and more may follow. Don Imus could testify about its effectiveness.
“Aflac has a strong commitment to helping children through the Aflac Cancer Center and Aflac Foundation,” said a rep. “We understand that radio hosts pick on any number of targets however we found his recent comments about autistic children to be both inappropriate and insensitive.”
Aflac spent $90 million on advertising last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
During a recent show, Weiner said that autism is a scam. "I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is," said the popular talk show host who went on to call autistic children “idiots” and “morons.”
Organizations like The Autism Action Network provided the contact information for many of the shows' major advertisers to parents and advocates. Groups have called for a boycott of Weiner's show.
In fact, I'll bet the Savage Weiner woke up this morning, and realized this was exactly what might happen today, which led to his pathetic attempt to justify his indefensible remarks.
I wonder how many sponsors will have to dump Michael Savage before his employer follows suit.
