Don’t boycott businesses for dropping ads
The battle between Breitbart and Kellogg, bodes ill for the future of civil discourse.
Last month, Kellogg announced it would stop advertising on Breitbart’s site, due to policies that “aren’t aligned with our values as a company.”
Lego announced the same thing with another publication but said, “…hatred, discrimination, and demonization.”
Breitbart has chosen to call for a boycott of Kellogg, because “Kellogg’s offered no examples of how Breitbart’s 45 million monthly readers fail to align with the breakfast maker’s values.” This, of course, sidesteps the statement that Breitbart’s own policies are not aligned with those values.
Apparently, you must follow the example of Lego, and call it what it is.
As an occasional advertiser in various publications, I find it appalling that a media company would immediately resort to a boycott in retaliation for losing a paying customer. I fear this is a taste of things to come, as I can foresee other online entities lashing out when denied advertising dollars.
Ed Hawke, Fresno
This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Don’t boycott businesses for dropping ads."