Companies are pulling their advertisements from Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News after he said mass immigration makes the U.S. “poorer and dirtier.”
The big picture: This isn’t the first time Fox News hosts have gotten heat for their rhetoric — Laura Ingraham faced similar pushback over tweets mocking Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg earlier this year. Fox News stood by Ingraham then, and it continues to stand by Carlson now.
What they’re saying
Carlson’s comments on mass immigration:
“As an economic matter, this is insane. It’s indefensible so nobody even tries to defend it. Instead, our leaders demand that we shut up and accept this. ‘We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor,’ they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided. ‘Immigration is a form of atonement; previous leaders of our country committed sins, we must pay for those sins by welcoming an endless chain of migrant caravans.’ That’s the argument they make.”
Fox News statement:
“We cannot and will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts … Attempts were made last month to bully and terrorize Tucker and his family at their home. He is now once again being threatened via Twitter by far left activist groups with deeply political motives. While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view.”
Advertisers pulling out:
- IHOP: “[W]e stand for welcoming folks from all backgrounds and beliefs into our restaurants and continually evaluate ad placements to ensure they align with our values. In this case, we will no longer be advertising on this show.”
- Voya Financial: “We have no scheduled spots on Tucker Carlson. We’re committed to diversity, inclusion and equality — and respect for all individuals.”
- Just for Men: “Just for Men has no further plans to advertise on Tucker Carlson’s show. The brand is always considering ways to remain responsible, and this includes aligning with partners who share our brand value.”
- Pacific Life: “As a company, we strongly disagree with Mr. Carlson’s statements. … We will not be advertising on Mr. Carlson’s show in the coming weeks as we reevaluate our relationship with his program.”
- Zenni Optical told the Hollywood Reporter on Monday that it had pulled its advertisements “effective yesterday.”
- NerdWallet also told the Hollywood Reporter it was pulling advertising and will “be reevaluating any ongoing advertising with this program.”
- Bowflex parent company Nautilus Inc.: “We can confirm that Nautilus, Inc. parent company for Bowflex, has pulled its ads from the Tucker Carlson Tonight show. … Aside from our decision to remove our ads from his show, we have no other association or affiliation with Mr. Carlson.”
- Minted: “We do not agree with Mr. Carlson’s comments and his opinions are not consistent with the values we hold…That being said, we are permanently discontinuing advertising on this particular program.”
- SmileDirectClub said they’re “actively working with our media buyers to confirm that SmileDirectClub is no longer running our ads around any political opinion shows.”
- United Explorer credit card: “We have stopped advertising on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show.”
- Jaguar Land Rover: “Jaguar Land Rover has rarely advertised on the show and does not have any plans for it going forward.”
- Ancestry.com: “We are not advertising at this time.”
- SCOTTeVEST: “We have instructed our media buyers to pull any future ads from that program.”
Advertisers who have publicly said they’re staying put:
- Mitsubishi: “Our advertising media spend is determined based on demographics and psychographics, not politics…We will monitor the situation and adjust our advertising if necessary.”
- AstraZeneca: “The content and opinions of the outlets, networks or websites for which we advertise are not reflective of our views or values as a company. However, as a standard practice, we regularly monitor our media programming to ensure its aligned to our corporate values. As such, we will continue to assess our advertising purchases regarding the heightened attention surrounding this matter.”
- John Deere: “John Deere is an advertiser on the Fox Network. Our ads appear on various shows on the network.”
- Farmers Insurance: “Advertising decisions made by Farmers should not be construed to be an endorsement of any kind as to a show’s content or the individuals appearing on the show.”
- Gold Bond producer, Sanofi: “Sanofi purchases advertising time and space in contracts negotiated far in advance and our advertising is never an endorsement of a show and/or the content of a show.”
- Bayer: “Given the wide diversity of media today and wide range of public opinion on any given issue, it would be an impossible task to find a major television or radio network whose entire programming schedule appears to all audiences. … We also value the opinions of our consumers, and take them into considering when making advertising placement decisions.”
