Reports Claim ‘Jill And Jessa’ Rating Didn’t Stop Advertisers From Pulling Out Of TLC Show
Jill and Jessa: Counting On is the spinoff from the cancelled TLC show, 19 Kids and Counting. While fans worried that the Josh Duggar scandal might get in the way of the show’s rating, it looks like Jill and Jessa: Counting On is doing very well.
But the show has gained some more scandal when TLC advertisers got upset that their spot ran during the controversial show.
“Seven brands whose ads appeared during Counting On were surprised — and not happy — to learn that their spots ran during the show,” reports In Touch Weekly.
One of the businesses that were featured during one of the episodes of Jill and Jessa: Counting On was Cici’s Pizza. Despite the fact that their spot ran during a show that had a good rating, the representative for the chain made it clear that the brand did not want to be associated with the Duggars.
“Cici’s prides itself on being a family-friendly restaurant,” the rep said according to In Touch Weekly. “We recently made a large advertising buy on cable television that spanned several networks but did not target any particular program. When we learned one of our ads was placed adjacent to controversial programming, we took immediate action to stop it.”
Looks like no matter how good the TLC show’s rating is and many happy family Instagram photos that Jill uploads, she won’t be able to persuade some businesses.
The reason that so many brands and businesses are trying not to be associated with Jill and Jessa: Counting On is because of the scandal that got 19 Kids and Counting, which also had an excellent rating, cancelled in the first place.
The popular TLC show abruptly came to a screeching halt when the scandal about Josh Duggar molesting his family members, as well as having Ashley Madison account to cheat on his wife, leaked. Seeing how the Duggars pride themselves in having high Christian morals, this was more than a shock to some of the Duggar followers.
So it’s no surprise that family-friendly businesses want to be as far away from child molesters as possible.
Media expert David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Visions, says, according to the same article, that TLC may not have much success in finding replacements in advertisers.
“The Duggars are radioactive right now,” he says. “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.”
The fact that Jill and Jessa: Counting On has not skirted away from Josh Duggar scandal may have been the reason why the TLC show had trouble with some of its advertisers. They chose to feature Anna Duggar, Josh’s wife, in the first episode.
“Anna Duggar took her first trip to visit husband Josh in Tuesday’s premiere episode of Jill and Jessa: Counting On,” reports the Daily Mail. “The young mother was joined by newborn daughter Meredith as she made the trek from Arkansas to Illinois to see Josh, who was in a faith-based rehab program at the time and who she had not seen in three months.”
Avoiding the issue directly would have also seemed weird, but making it the topic of its debut episode might not have been the smartest choice in the interest of TLC.
Despite all this drama, Jill and Jessa are doing their best to stay optimistic. Their new babies have been a big help in keeping them distracted through the rough times that their families faced. They have been keeping their fans updated on the growth of their babies, as well as the joys of new motherhood.
Do you think TLC will think before they renew Jill and Jessa show despite its good rating? Let us know in the comments below!
[Photo by Jill Dillard/Instagram]
