Gold retailer Rosland Capital, the biggest advertiser on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” has no plans to pull its commercials from the show amid sexual harassment allegations against host Bill O’Reilly.
“At this time, we have no plans to change our advertising strategy,” the company told CNN Money. “Around 10% of our ad spend with the network is for advertising that runs on that particular program.”
Research firm Kantar Media determined that Rosland Capital was the top advertiser on O’Reilly’s show for 2015 and the first nine months of 2016, according to the report.
As of Thursday morning, 55 companies had pulled advertising from “The O’Reilly Factor” amid allegations of sexual harassment against O’Reilly.
Five women took a total of $13 million in settlements from O’Reilly or 21st Century Fox after making allegations of sexual harassment and other behavior against the top host, according to a New York Times report published on Saturday.
The investigation by the Times was the latest in a line of complaints since former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros alleged in August 2016 that O’Reilly subjected her to unwelcome advances.
21st Century Fox told the Times that O’Reilly “denies the merits of these claims,” and Fox News executive vice president of advertising sales Paul Rittenberg said on Tuesday that the network is working with advertisers.
“At the time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs,” Rittenberg said in a statement. “We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the O’Reilly Factor.”
If I were a Fox shareholder, I’d be asking if they hold a specific contingency fund for paying off sexual harassment suits, and how much they’re planning to pay out in the next five years.
The company’s target audience is one that voted for a man who says he likes to grab women by the pussy. Why would they pull their advertising?
Of course Rosland Capital will stay with O’Reilly, they have been fleecing his viewers out of millions of dollars for years now. The would probably fold were it not for the money O’Reilly’s viewers send them.
What about the company that sells the freeze dried food in bulk so you can hunker down in your bunker in the end times.
And therein lies the problem: O’Reilly is the harasser, but Fox is enabling him and paying out the settlements.
If the companies boycotting O’Reilly actually want to change behavior at Fox, and make a real statement, then they need to pull their advertising from all of the shows on the Fox News Channel, not just the O’Reilly Rant Hour.
Comment reposted from a previous thread, because it’s still just as relevant.