A few days ago, I clicked on (and read) this story about Jinger Duggar and her “sex plans.” I wish I had not even looked, because the story made my eye twitch. It was all about wide-eyed innocence and front hugs and “fast tracking” a wedding so Jinger and her shady fiancé can bone with daddy’s blessing. I’m not joking. The story actually read as just a recap of the latest episode of Counting On, the spinoff of 19 Kids & Counting. 19 Kids & Counting was canceled last year in the wake of Josh Duggar’s creepy-molester-pervert scandal. The show HAD to be canceled because TLC lost advertisers across the board because of Josh Duggar. But TLC was still in bed with the Duggars, so they came up with the idea of Counting On, which was supposed to focus on the younger Duggar women/girls, mostly Jessa and Jill, aka the likeable and sympathetic Duggars. But Counting On has just turned into a rebranded 19 Kids & Counting, and advertisers still don’t want any part of it.
As In Touch previously reported, more than a dozen advertisers who made a large buy on cable television that spanned several networks balked when their ads ran during season one of Jill & Jessa: Counting On due to Josh Duggar’s scandals. And now, four more companies have issued statements saying they were surprised to learn their spots aired during the season two premiere of Counting On. Many are pulling their ads:
• GERBER LIFE: “The Gerber Life ad was inadvertently shown during the premiere of Counting On. We have been assured that Gerber Life ads will no longer be shown during this program.”
• TRIVAGO: “We did not have control over when the advertisement ran, as it was a direct response buy. We did not purposely intend to advertise during any specific TLC program.”
• THUMBTACK.COM: “At this time, we are not buying TV ad space for particular programming or programs, rather for networks or groups of networks in aggregate. Your question [about whether it was the company’s intention to air during Counting On] however has opened a discussion internally on this topic.”
• HOTWIRE: “Hotwire’s ads appear on many cable networks including AMC, Bravo, HGTV, TNT, TBS, USA as well as TLC Network. While we are able to select which cable networks air our ads, we do not select the specific shows. After further consideration we have decided to remove this network from our plan.”
Now, with so many companies pulling their ads off the show, TLC is left to air promos for other TLC programs instead of paid ads.
[From In Touch Weekly]
Hotwire, Gerber and Trivago are some of my favorite peeps now! I love that corporations still don’t want to have anything to do with the Duggars, even though Josh Duggar is in the wind. Creepy Jim-Bob and Michelle still make a lot of appearances on Counting On, and the show still pushes the Duggar lifestyle. I also wonder about the ratings – by most accounts, Counting On is highly-rated for a cable-reality show, but the ratings are still not as good as they were before everybody learned the truth about Josh and the family. So here’s my question: why is TLC still trying to make the Duggars happen? And why is People Magazine still trying it too? The Duggars run to People with all of their exclusives these days, but if I was an editor for People, at some point I would just say “no thanks.”
Photos courtesy of In Touch Weekly, Duggars’ Facebook.
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