Advertisers caught in the middle of a political news war
- Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
A handful of advertisers have pulled their ads from Fox News in response to Sean Hannity's coverage of the Roy Moore sexual harassment saga. Conservative audiences are crying foul, and bashing the products of the companies that pulled their ads, literally.
The controversy occurs just a week after Fox pulled ads from progressive mogul Tom Steyer that called for President Trump's impeachment, citing viewership complaints.
Why it matters: It's part of a growing trend where advertisers leverage their dollars to try to sway the hand of the media platform they're working with, a tactic that has picked up steam this year as advertisers have boycotted Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity's shows, as well as Breitbart and YouTube.
Go deeper: A CMO Council and Dow Jones study last quarter found that 78% of the 300 senior marketers questioned believe that unintended associations with unsavory content, images, topics, audiences or conversations will hurt their brand's reputation, per Marketing Week.