{"id":1309,"date":"2009-06-18T21:32:17","date_gmt":"2009-06-19T02:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2009-06-22T10:30:12","modified_gmt":"2009-06-22T15:30:12","slug":"fire-david-letterman-v-jumpstart-his-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/06\/18\/fire-david-letterman-v-jumpstart-his-ratings\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire David Letterman v. Jumpstart His Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated:: 18 June 2009 10:53 EDT<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Overshadowed by rather serious events in Iran<\/a> <\/strong>and subsequent stutter-steps by mainstream media<\/a><\/strong> in its coverage, David Letterman got into a dustup with Sarah Palin<\/a><\/strong> over allegedly tasteless jokes about her 14 year-old daughter, Willow. \u00a0The Huffington Post has a 1:43 compilation of the affair<\/a><\/strong>::<\/p>\n

\"1"43"'<\/a>
1"43"' Compilation of clips, including Bill O'Reilly fingerwagging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dave went to great lengths to apologize and Sarah Palin accepted his apology on Tuesday<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Old news. \u00a0Now, one group is clamoring for Dave’s firing. \u00a0Just to be clear here, Dave is protected by the First Amendment’s right to free speech, but that doesn’t guarantee employment. \u00a0Ask Don Imus<\/a> <\/strong>about how big media can frown on\u00a0inappropriate humour.<\/a> <\/strong>The FireDavidLetterman<\/a> site announced that <\/span>Olive Garden supposedly dropped its sponsorship of The Late Show<\/a>::<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"fireletterm\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a\u00a0Politico article<\/a><\/strong>, according to\u00a0Sherri Bruen, the company\u2019s guest relations manager::<\/p>\n

\u201cWe apologize that Mr. Letterman\u2019s mistake, which was not consistent with our standards and values, left you with a bad impression of Olive Garden.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

but, this HotAir post<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>finished the paragraph with this::<\/p>\n

“There will be no more Olive Garden ads scheduled for The Late Show with David Letterman in this year\u2019s broadcast schedule.<\/p>\n

We have not yet finalized next year\u2019s advertising plan but will consider our valued guests\u2019 opinions when doing so.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The context being that the contract was already allowed to expire and no ads were planned. \u00a0So, they caved to pressure. \u00a0Or, did they? \u00a0Apparently, the sources confirming the pulling of the ad sponsorship weren’t authorized to speak for the company and the NY Times reported there was no such decision<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0The Politico article was updated and the title revised from this::<\/p>\n

\"beltway2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

to “Olive Garden Backtracks on David Letterman Ads<\/a><\/strong>.” \u00a0Well, as the story d\/evolved, quel surprise<\/em>, comments from the Twittersphere<\/a><\/strong> started to trickle in, some defending Olive Garden, some critical of the chain, and a handful advocating a boycott for allegedly pulling the ads {recent} and for sponsoring Dave {2+ days ago}::<\/p>\n

\"og-tweets1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Olive Garden is in a tough PR spot. \u00a0If their online demos {Quantcast} <\/a><\/strong>are fairly similar to their customer base, their market trends towards being white, female, 18-49, with 0-2 kids, making under $60K, and with some college. \u00a0In other words, moderates.<\/p>\n

Dave. \u00a0Well, he’s getting a bounce from all of this. \u00a0According to the NYTimes Media Decoder blog<\/a> <\/strong>{16 June}::<\/p>\n

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“In preliminary national ratings, Mr. Letterman pulled in 700,000 more viewers than Mr. O\u2019Brien Monday night, 3.9 million to 3.2 million, his biggest margin yet over his new competitor. Mr. Letterman routinely trailed the former ‘Tonight’ host Jay Leno by a million viewers or more.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

O’Brien still owns the coveted younger demos.<\/p>\n

Update::<\/strong> Video of Fire Letterman Protest from New York magazine<\/p>\n

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