Fox News is in a jam this week as major automakers and smaller
outfits pull their ads from the network's popular "O'Reilly Factor"
show, following a series of sexual harassment claims against host Bill
O'Reilly.
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi all yanked their ads after a New York Times investigation that surfaced five sexual harassment cases against the political pundit.
They were joined Tuesday by pharmaceutical
makers GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer, Sanofi Consumer Care, insurer
Allstate, asset management firm T. Rowe Price, and personal finance
company Credit Karma.
Orkin, a pest control company; Untuckit, a
men's clothing line; Ancestry.com, a family history service; Constant
Contact, an email marketer; and Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, the parent
company of the Rachel Ray-endorsed dog food brand Nutrish, also
announced they were pulling ads.
In total, at least 16 advertisers have so far withdrawn support.
Fox News said in a statement Tuesday that it
values its ad partners and was "working with them to address their
current concerns about the O'Reilly Factor. At this time, the ad buys of
those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs."
Mercedes-Benz said in an emailed statement that its advertising on the
show "has been reassigned in the midst of this controversy."
The Times reported that the five women have
received settlement payments totaling $13 million from either Fox or
O'Reilly himself.
(You nay want to read the full NBC news article, here.)