Clorox Okay With Advertising on Show That Preaches Anti-Christian Bigotry
ABC The View co-host
Joy Behar and Vice President
Mike Pence. (YouTube)
(CNSNews.com) -- The Clorox Company, a multinational American firm with more than 8,000 employees and net annual sales of $6 billion, apparently has no reservations about advertising its products on a television program that espouses anti-Christian bigotry.
"We know our selection of programs [for advertising] will not always meet with every viewer's approval, as it did not in this case for you," said Clorox in an "Executive Reply" email statement today. "But we encourage you to voice your concerns with the network."
Clorox was responding to a Media Research Center (MRC) campaign, which is calling on advertisers of ABC's The View to stop advertising on the program until co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin publicly apologize for the bigoted remarks.
On the Feb. 13 edition of ABC's The View, co-host Joy Behar described Vice President Mike Pence's Christian beliefs as a "mental illness." Also, co-host Sunny Hostin, an apparent Catholic, mocked Pence's evangelical views as "dangerous," and falsely suggested he "speaks in tongues." (See the video here.)
Following that broadcast, the Media Research Center (MRC) launched a campaign -- stopattackingchristians.com -- for Americans to contact ABC's The View and its major advertisers to urge them to stop advertising on the show until Behar and Hostin publicly apologize for their anti-Christian remarks.
More than 30,000 phone calls were placed to ABC President James Goldston. More than 10,000 calls have been placed to The View's advertisers, which include Clorox, Gerber, Expedia, HomeAdvisor, and Oreo, among others.
Not one of those advertisers has stated it will suspend its advertising on The View.
Clorox Chief Marketing Officer Eric Reynolds. (YouTube)
On March 9, CNSNews.com reached out to Clorox again, asking it to state whether it has already or would suspend its advertising on The View until Behar and Hostin publicly apologize for their bigoted, anti-Christian remarks.
This time, Clorox sent out its "Executive Reply." It reads:
"We appreciate the concerns you've expressed about our advertising during 'The View' on ABC. We take all comments seriously.
Kathryn Caulfield, Clorox
Media Relations. (Google)
"As a company, we believe that every person should feel respected and valued for his or her unique point of view. We agree that nobody should be disparaged for their religion, politics or any other attribute that makes them who they are.
"That perspective -- of respect for all points of view -- extends to our advertising choices. However, today's television environment can make that challenging for companies like Clorox because we try to be very careful and responsible in our choices. We know our selection of programs will not always meet with every viewer's approval, as it did not in this case for you. But we encourage you to voice your concerns with the network.
"We want you to know that your opinions truly matter to us, and we will continue to exercise special care in terms of where we advertise."
Aileen Zerrudo, Clorox
Media Relations. (LinkedIn)
CNSNews' March 9 inquiry was emailed to Clorox public affairs officials. These included Aileen Zerrudo, Kathryn Caulfield, Lisah Burhan, Joel Ramirez, and Steve Austenfeld. Their response was the "Executive Reply" email statement.
On March 8, the Chicago Tribune reported that Joy Behar had recently spoken with Vice President Mike Pence and apparently apologized, in the private phone call, for her remarks. She did not publicly apologize on The View, nor did Sunny Hostin.
Steve Austenfeld, Clorox
Media Relations. (YouTube)
Clorox has not said it disapproves of or denounces the anti-Christian bigotry espoused on ABC's The View. It instead says, "We know our selection of programs will not always meet with every viewer's approval, as it did not in this case for you."
MRC President Brent Bozell.
In a statement released on March 8 about Behar's apparent private apology, MRC President Brent Bozell said, “It is a good first step that Joy Behar privately apologized to Vice President Pence, but it is not nearly enough. Behar and ABC need to publicly apologize for the bigoted slurs on ‘The View.’
“The bigoted statements made about the Vice President's Christian faith offended hundreds of millions of Christians across the country, the largest faith group in the United States," he said. “Their apology should, therefore, be as public as their insult."
“When they do that, this whole matter will be put to rest," said Bozell.
"Until they do, we will not let up our campaign to let the world -- including their advertisers -- know of their anti-Christian bigotry."
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