A new full-page ad in the upfronts edition of Adweek magazine warns media buyers and major advertisers that “if you sponsor Fox News your brand is in danger.” The ad directs readers to DropFox.com, which features a new open letter to media buyers signed by a coalition of more than two dozen organizations urging them not to purchase advertisements on Fox News and warning that any ad spend on the network will fund the promotion of COVID-19 conspiracy theories, bigotry, and lies.
A tactic that has worked well in the face of hateful rhetoric in the media is a pressure campaign against advertisers. This is exactly what a March 13 protest called “Drop Fox” was designed to do. Even in the lead-up to the protest, more than a dozen advertisers had already dropped their sponsorship. Gertz shared that “This is all happening at a very dangerous time for Fox News,” and that Fox organized the meeting in March rather than in May—the more traditional time for ad buys—because of a “series of advertiser boycotts against their major hosts over a series of months.” In their call to “Drop Fox,” Media Matters and other organizations and activists are demanding cutting ties with the worst elements in American society.
That is not a big ask, but in Trump’s America morality has been distorted and hate continues to have a place on television and in the White House—until the nation chooses another way.
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