Progressive Democrat Issue 67: MEDIA ACTIVISM

There are an increasing number of efforts to boycott/pressure advertisers to pull their ads from right wing programs where lies, hatemongering and advocacy of violence are common. One such attempt has been aimed at Insure.com, owned by Quotesmith.  Quotesmith not only advertises on Bill O’Reilly’s show, but avidly defends his every word when confronted by complaints. Quotesmith, for its defense of O’Reilly, deserves to be boycotted and pressured in every way.

With some pushing from us, this could be another success like the Sinclair boycott. But we need to keep at it and we need to be as persistent and creative as we were for the Sinclair boycott. Remember, each victory we have will make future victories easier.

Why target a sponsor of Bill O’Reilly? I explain several reasons why O’Reilly is particularly odious in an earlier diary. Please refer to that diary for more detail. You can also find out more information at Ad Nausea and at Media Matters. Understand, that I pick targets for boycotts and lobbying not based on my disagreement with them. I pick them based on lies, racial slurs and advocacy of violence. I target Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly and the like, not people like Lou Dobbs who I may disagree with but who at least shows some sanity and restraint.

What to do about Insure.com? Well, I propose a three-pronged strategy. First, directly confront them by declaring a boycott. Second, put pressure on them through the investment community. Third, get creative…see below.

BOYCOTT:

Don’t buy insurance from Insure.com and write the officers of the company telling them that because of their sponsorship and defense of O’Reilly’s hate-mongering, lies and advocacy of violence (see resources above for more details), you are boycotting Insure.com, are contacting your broker and mutual fund companies to make sure you own no stock in them, and are spreading the word on this boycott. Here are the people to contact:

Eric Bergquist
Chief Information Officer
ebergquist@insure.com

Robert S. Bland, CLU
Chairman and Founder
bob@insure.com

Phillip Perillo
Chief Financial Officer
pperillo@insure.com

William V. Thoms
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Director
bthoms@insure.com

INVESTOR PRESSURE:

Contact your broker and mutual fund companies and tell them that you hear that a boycott has been called on Quotesmith because of their support of right wing commentators who advocate and threaten violence. Express your concern that you might hold shares of their stock and want to dump that stock before the boycott takes hold. When we did this for Sinclair, my broker said that there was indeed a buzz about a boycott of Sinclair and that many people were concerned that it would affect the stock. The stock did tank shortly after, though later recovered. The net effect was that the Sinclair program we were boycotting over (a pack of lies about Kerry) was pulled and a much tamer piece put in its place. We sent a message when we did this to Sinclair. Some people even went so far as to short the Sinclair stock and made money off it. I won’t advocate this because it is risky financially. But more power to those who do it! Let’s send a second message by doing the same thing to Quotesmith. Contact your investment advisors, mutual fund companies, 401K companies, etc and express your desire to get out of Quotesmith. Write even if you have an indexed fund (which has no choice in what to invest in). The point is to create a stir like we created over Sinclair.

CREATIVE APPROACHES:

Send a message in a way that will gain some attention but also will benefit the progressive cause in other ways. This way, even if Quotesmith doesn’t budge, we still are thumbing our noses at them in an effective way.

Send one of the corporate officers of Insure.com (listed above) a gift subscription to Salon.com or to Media Matters. This sends the message that you think they are backing the wrong horse, gives them the opportunity to see the other side (if they choose to) and supports some good organizations.

Since the Chairman and Founder is quite anti-Choice, you could also donate to NARAL in his name.

A combination of these three methods, if enough of us do it, could send a message not just to Quotesmith, but to Bill O’Reilly and to all businesses. Building on the Sinclair victory, we need to do more of this to ensure that companies start listening to us as well as to the right.

Please feel free to add suggestions for actions. Of course, nothing illegal or anything like that. Merely good old fashioned American progressive activism.