Business or Politics

I think the left is beginning to shows signs of accepting the fact that the Fairness Doctrine isn't going to be coming back any time soon. They have begun to step up efforts to silences voices they disagree with by other means. Target number one is the fountainhead of evil (i.e. non Liberal) thought that has the unmitigated to call itself FOX "News."

MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America's Future and liberal blogs like DailyKos.com are asking thousands of supporters to monitor who is advertising on the network. Once a database is gathered, an organized phone-calling campaign will begin, said Jim Gilliam, vice president of media strategy for Brave New Films, a company that has made anti-Fox videos.

The groups have successfully pressured Democratic presidential candidates not to appear at any debate sponsored by Fox, and are also trying to get Home Depot Inc. to stop advertising there.

At least 5,000 people nationwide have signed up to compile logs on who is running commercials on Fox, Gilliam said. The groups want to first concentrate on businesses running local ads, as opposed to national commercials.

This means they are not going FOX advertisers but advertisers of local affiliate stations.

These people need a lesson in basic business decision making. Businesses rarely make advertising decisions based to the actual or perceived politics of a media outlet. Even a very conservative company like the one I work for has run advertising in Playboy. Ads are not cheep, and a thirty second television spot is very costly particularly for a small local business.

The decision is fairly straight forward. Unless someone is suggesting you advertise in the KKK monthly, you don't look at the politics - you look at the exposure. You use the money you have for advertising to get your message in front of as many likely customers as you possibly can. Your two main metrics are reach and frequency. You try to maximize the number of people you reach and the number of times you reach them.

If you think FOX is too conservative, but they are the most efficient vehicle to reach your target demographic, your choice is to write a check to FOX or spend your money less efficiently.

There's a reason you don't often see the NRA advertising for members on the Daily Kos. (OK there's two because Kos would reject the ad). The regular readers of that site are not likely to be signing for NRA membership. Assuming the ad ran, it would be a colossal waist of money.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 02:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment