More Advertisers Pull Out of Duggar Show

The Duggar and Dillard families at a wedding in June 2014 in Springdale, Ark.
(Photo: David Welker/AP Images/TLC)

As the TLC network ponders the future of the damaged Duggar family’s reality show, more advertisers are deciding for themselves: They’re out.

Meanwhile, pressure on social media to cancel the show outright is mounting.

Payless Shoe Source and Choice Hotels tweet-announced Tuesday they are pulling their ads from the top-rated 19 Kids and Counting show in the wake of last week’s scandalous revelations about eldest son Josh Duggar’s past molesting of underage girls.

In response to tweets from concerned customers, Payless said it was planning to remove its ads from whatever survives of the Duggar show in the future.

@SweetBabbyJesus
@PaylessInsider Please pull ads with @TLC until they #CancelTheDuggars. Incest and molestation are not family values.

@PaylessInsider
@SweetBabbyJesus Our ads ran during this show as part of a larger buy w/ TLC. We are taking steps to have them removed from future episodes.

11:12 AM – 26 May 2015

Choice Hotels did the same.

@moaevil
@ChoiceHotels @ChoiceHotelsPR Please pull sponsorship of 19 Kids and Counting. Do you want your chain associated with child sex abuse?

@ChoiceHotels
@moaevil Thank you for reaching out. We share your concerns and we have decided to remove our advertising from the show.

12:49 PM – 26 May 2015

Walgreens, also under pressure from customers on social media, might follow: It said on its Facebook page it is continuing to “monitor” the Duggar scandal.

Food giant General Mills last week said it would pull its ads from the show, shortly after Josh Duggar confessed to “inexcusable” behavior, and his pious parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, acknowledged knowing about it and ensuring Josh never was prosecuted for it.

TLC already has pulled reruns of the show from its schedule but still is considering whether to cancel the show altogether. Currently, the show is not in production.

TLC did not respond to requests for comment about the Duggar scandal’s impact on advertising. The network has issued only one official statement, saying it was “deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation.”

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SOURCE: USA Today – Maria Puente