Duggar Family’s Latest Woes: Companies Unhappy With TLC For Airing Their Ads During ‘Jill & Jessa: Counting On’
The Duggar family’s new show, Jill & Jessa: Counting On, might not be around for long if advertisers keep jumping ship and voicing their displeasure with TLC. Many companies have informed the network that they don’t want their ads to air during any shows starring the Duggar family, but TLC is airing them anyway. Now some unhappy businesses are speaking out and voicing their displeasure with TLC for going against their wishes.
According to In Touch Weekly, multiple companies have revealed that their ads aired during Jill & Jessa: Counting On when they were not supposed to. Pure Michigan was one of the companies that specifically asked TLC not to air its commercials during the Duggar family’s show.
“The Pure Michigan ads were not supposed to air during this program, and we were disappointed to hear that they had,” the company revealed.
A Pure Michigan rep says that the company contacted TLC to let the network know that it was not happy about its request being ignored, and TLC reassured Pure Michigan that it would no longer air its ads during Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
Choice Hotels also revealed that its ads were not supposed to run during the Duggar family’s show, but TLC aired one of them anyway.
“If any ads run, it is an error of the network as our advertising agency has directed them to remove our advertising from the show,” a rep for the company explained.
Other companies revealed that they pulled their ads after they found out that they had aired during Jill & Jessa: Counting On. These businesses included The UPS Store, Whitewave Foods, Mattress Firm, and Cici’s Pizza.
“When we learned one of our ads was placed adjacent to controversial programming, we took immediate action to stop it,” a rep for Cici’s told In Touch Weekly.
Most of these companies probably wouldn’t be pulling their ads if not for the tireless efforts of members of the Cancel the Duggars and No More Duggars Facebook groups. Members of these groups keep track of which companies advertise with TLC, and they contact these businesses through their social media pages or via email. They ask the companies to pull their advertising from the Duggar family’s TLC series with the ultimate goal of getting the Duggars off of TV for good.
When members contact companies, they explain why they believe the Duggars should not be on TV. They share the messages that they send to these businesses and the responses that they get, and they also send thank you emails to any companies that vow to pull their ads from Jill & Jessa: Counting On. A Cancel the Duggars member shared an example of a request that she sent to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.
“I was very disappointed to see your company advertising during TLC’s ‘Jill and Jessa Counting On’ shows,” the message read. “Please stop running your ads during these shows as supporting the Duggars is supporting Child Sexual Abuse.”
A Ghirardelli rep responded by explaining that its ads appeared during the Duggar family’s show because it had purchased bulk advertising, which is a common practice for big companies. However, the rep promised that the company would reach out to TLC and ask that its ads not air during Counting On.
“We agree that this particular program is not in line with our core values and have since been in touch with the network to get this TV show removed from our advertising,” Ghirardelli’s response read. “We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.”
According to Starpulse, the No More Duggars Facebook page began contacting advertisers when the Duggar family’s three-part TLC special aired late last year. The group convinced over 700 companies to vow that they would pull their ads from any programming focused on the Duggar family.
One of the main reason these social media activists don’t want the Duggar family on TV is because of the way Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar handled the incestuous sexual abuse that took place under their roof. Last year, In Touch Weekly obtained police reports documenting the Duggars’ shocking confession that Josh Duggar sexually molested four of his younger sisters and a female babysitter as a teenager. The documents reveal that Josh told his parents what he was doing on three different occasions, but they never turned Josh into the proper authorities. They didn’t remove Josh from their household until he confessed to committing his seventh act of molestation, which involved the fondling of his then-five-year-old sister.
TMZ reports that Josh Duggar will not star on any episodes of Jill & Jessa: Counting On, but he’s still making money from the TLC series through the multiple appearances of his wife, Anna Duggar. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have popped up on the show, so they’re presumably still receiving paychecks from TLC. Many of the Duggars’ underage children can also be seen on the family’s new series.
A media expert told TLC that the Duggars are still “radioactive” even though they are desperately trying to rebrand their family and distance themselves from the Josh Duggar sexual molestation scandal. David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Visions, believes that many viewers and advertisers aren’t buying the ultra-conservative Independent Baptists’ attempt to portray themselves as a normal family.
“People will see that this new show is just a desperate ploy by the Duggars to reclaim the spotlight and hopefully make some dollars off the public.”
However, TLC did order a new series starring the Duggar family after the advertiser exodus of last year’s Counting On specials, so it’s possible that the network will continue its controversial relationship with the Duggars even as more and more companies ask to have their ads pulled.
[Image via Duggar Family Official Facebook]
