Home Depot seems to have had a change of heart. They're now unequivocally telling their customers that they will not advertise on Bill O'Reilly's show. Oddly, however, they're now also claiming that they never advertised on O'Reilly's show.
From: Jarvis, Ron @homedepot.com] Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 3:00 PM To: JH Subject: RE: PULL SUPPORT FOR OREILLY
Thank you for your email , we will not and have not advertised on the Bill O’Reilly show.
And here's another:
From: Defeo, @homedepot.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:07 AM To: JH Subject: FW: PULL SUPPORT FOR OREILLY
Good morning, Thank you very much for your message. The Home Depot has a policy that prohibits the running of its advertising on programs that express strong opinions or political views. Please note that this includes Bill O’Reilly’s program. Thank you, Ron
Funny, though, that Home Depot already admitted to advertising on O'Reilly's show in the hateful email they sent customers just a few days ago - you know, the one where they blamed you for hurting the environment:
Dear C (me),
Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.
We appreciate you taking the time to forward your concerns regarding The Home Depot's sponsorship of Bill O' Reilly's show on FOX.
The Home Depot has a strong passion for being environmentally responsible both in the Company's operating principles and in responsible retailing through our industry-leading Eco Options initiative, a program that allows customers to easily identify products that have less of an impact on the environment and empowers them to help make a difference in their own homes. We have led many initiatives with interest groups to develop standards and set environmental goals for ourselves and suppliers. Some of these at great expense and sweat equity to the company.
Our advertising campaigns have one simple objective to communicate with audiences in the most effective way possible. The Company is receptive to many forms and styles of media as we seek a balanced representation of programming to reach our customer base.
Unfortunately campaigns like this one cause us to take time away from our sustainability goals and address a variance of political views.
Sincerely,
Atul Customer Care
Gee, Atul, it seems that your story is changing fast.
Perhaps Home Depot is doing "run of network" ads that appear across the FOX networks, with FOX choosing which shows the ads run on. A lot of companies like to use this kind of advertising to claim that they don't advertise on particular shows - it's a smoke screen and a lie. If this is the case here, then Home Depot needs to specifically inform us that they have asked FOX not to run any Home Depot ads on The O'Reilly Factor.
Having said that, Home Depot has some explaining to do if it thinks Hannity is any better than O'Reilly. FOX, across the board, smears gays, blacks, attacks the environment, and more. Home Depot needs to dump the hate network now, across the board.
From: Defeo, Ron [mailto:Ron_DeFeo homedepot.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:07 AM To: JH Subject: FW: PULL SUPPORT FOR OREILLY
Good morning, Thank you very much for your message. The Home Depot has a policy that prohibits the running of its advertising on programs that express strong opinions or political views. Please note that this includes Bill O’Reilly’s program. Thank you, Ron
