Advertisers have made some serious waves upon abandoning the sinking ship that was TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” as they not-so-subtly pull their advertising.
Social media marketing is a powerful advertising tactic. In fact, about 47% of marketers believe Facebook is a necessary tool for brand advertisement. So rather than quietly pulling its advertising, Walgreens announced its stance via social media on the subject of Josh Duggar, an alleged child molester who appears on the show. The former sponsor wrote in a Facebook post, “In the wake of recent news, we are no longer advertising on the ’19 Kids and Counting’ program.”
They weren’t the only ones, either. Choice Hotels International and Payless ShoeSource both publicly announced they were jumping ship, also, using Twitter as their medium.
“We share your concerns and we have decided to remove our advertising from the show,” tweeted Choice Hotels International in response to a question from a follower, who asked if the chain wanted to be associated with child sex abuse.
“Our ads ran during this show as part of a larger buy w/ TLC,” explained Payless ShoeSource in a tweet. “We are taking steps to have them removed from future episodes.”
The debacle began when In Touch magazine obtained a police report, revealing that Duggar family patriarch Jim Bob had waited over a year to contact police after his son, Josh, confessed to sexually molesting several female minors when he was a teenager.
A day later, TLC pulled all episodes following the report. The network has not, however, commented on whether or not it will decide to cancel the program.
Although last October, TLC did cancel another of its programs, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” shortly after allegations surfaced that the series’ matriarch, “Mama June” Shannon, had rekindled a romantic relationship with a man convicted of molesting her own children.
With a strong stance already having been taken on a similar matter, and the utter abandonment of sponsors, it seems likely that “19 Kids and Counting” has in fact counted its last kid.
