Duggar Family TV Show Disaster: Angry Advertisers Flee From Duggars Reboot After Josh Duggar Sex Scandals [Video]
Season after season, the Duggars’ family TV show 19 Kids And Counting provided income they could count on. Then the news broke that the oldest son, Josh Duggar, had molested several underage girls as a teen, including some of his sisters. Following confirmation of those reports, the network TLC cancelled the Duggars’ show. And any hopes that the show would be brought back to life seemed dashed when Josh again was embroiled in scandal after the Ashley Madison website hacking revealed that Duggar had paid for subscriptions.
Josh subsequently admitted to cheating on his wife Anna Duggar and entered rehab, which he recently exited.
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Despite that history of sex scandals tarnishing the Duggars family image, TLC took a chance with a 19 Kids reboot. But advertisers are fleeing from the show, leaving the Duggars spin-off, Jill & Jessa: Counting On, in jeopardy, according to In Touch.
And many advertisers were furious when they discovered that their ads had been run on an episode of the Duggars show. Those companies informed TLC that they have no desire to be linked in any way to any type of show that involves the Duggars.
Among those corporations are Wrigley, whose Skittles ad ran despite what the candy company had desired.
“It is never our intent to endorse content that could offend our consumers,” emphasized a representative. “Any ads [aired during] shows featuring the Duggar family [were an] error.”
“The ad ran in error and Ring will not advertise during that show in the future,” promised that rep.
In addition, some companies clarified that they had purchased broadcast time without knowing their ads would be aired during the Duggars show. However, those corporations also now are fleeing any association with the Duggars family.
“When we heard that our ad aired during Jill & Jessa: Counting On, we decided to adjust our media plan,” revealed a Combe Inc representative.
Other companies pointed out that they were not given a choice of which shows to air their ads. RCN Corporation, for example, emphasized that there no was intention involved in having its ad aired during the Duggars show, nor did X Out.
“That should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that show or the people associated with it,” stated X Out.
The above companies are following in the steps of seven other brands, who were shocked when they discovered that their ads broadcast during the debut of Counting On.
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“Cici’s prides itself on being a family-friendly restaurant,” declared one of those brands. “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.”
Other brands taking action to exclude their ads from the Duggars show included Whitewave Foods and the UPS Store.
“It was not our intention to advertise on the program. This specific program is [now] on our list of exclusions as well as any other potential Duggar programming,” promised a UPS representative.
Whitewave Foods made a point of noting that they heed what their consumers want, and that includes where their ads are aired.
“We have decided to no longer advertise this show moving forward. We are always listening to our consumers, whether it be to continuously enhance our products or carefully choose where to advertise.”
As for what TLC will do with all that air time, the network is broadcasting promos for its other programs. But can the Duggars show survive without paid ads?
TLC made the decision to test Jill & Jessica: Counting On about 12 months after Josh had confessed he had molested underage girls, noted Fox News.
When TLC cancelled 19 Kids and Counting, Discovery Communications (its parent corporation) paid big, with the cancellation costing $19 million.
One group actively working to contact sponsors of the Duggars new spinoff is a Facebook group. Members are reaching out to advertisers, and requesting that they not support any shows that have members of the Duggar, Dillard, and Seewald families.
[Photo by FOX News Channel/Getty Images]
