Well that was fast. Unless you were in a coma last week you will remember that most of Imus in the Morning's big name advertisers (GM, AmEx, Sprint, etc.) had pulled their sponsorship of his show in protest over his "nappy headed ho" comment, which was directed at stand-out student athletes on the Rutgers women's basketball team.
While these companies appeared to be taking the moral high road, AdRants reports that several sponsors have stated that they would be willing to re-evaluate sponsorship of a future Imus program. As per usual, these companies, that were so quick to flee, were also so quick to caveat their exits with wishy washy statements about not ruling out future opportunities. We all KNOW that most advertisers scared away will eventually come back to a lucrative show (they did after the ImClone Martha Stewart incident, and the race controversy surrounding Survivor: Cook Island, etc. etc.), I just find it surprising that some spokespeople are dumb enough to be so blatant about a return that it becomes a story in itself.
Exhibit A, GM spokesperson Ryndee Carney, who stated that GM's comments on re-evaluation should "indicate that we were open to revisiting at some point down the road," and further stated that, "We obviously don't condone his statements, but we have found value advertising on Imus in the past." If GM had just zipped their lips like other companies, would this article even exist?
(Side bar - Is anyone else surprised to see that soulless is spelled with two l's?)
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