TJ Walker compares how scandals damage advertiser relationships. TLC's "19 and Counting" lost sponsors over a cast member's child molestation accusations, while FIFA sponsors stuck around despite corruption charges because soccer's global fan base shields them from reputational harm.
Chapters
Scandals hit the Learning Channel with its show 19 and counting and also the international governing body of football, soccer, as we Americans call it, FIFA. So how are scandals affecting advertisers relationships to these two organizations? Now, the TLC show 19 counting is in a bit of trouble because it turns out one of the stars of the shows is a child molest. Not something most people want to be seen associating with or subsidizing. TLC has taken the show off for now, but they haven't said it's canceled entirely. They may bring it back. They may bring back other characters from the show, different versions of the show. So it begs the question, how should advertisers deal with this? Now, a number of major corporations have said, oh, we no longer want to be associated with this show. Here's the situation. Advertisers, by and large don't want to deal with controversy. They just want to get in front of eyeballs to remind people, here we are. Buy Crest toothpaste. Here we are. Cheers. Laundry detergent. Think of us when you see us at the store. They don't really have an agenda, by and large, so usually they try to shy away from controversy. However, here's the problem. In this wildly fragmented media universe, there aren't that many shows that have huge audiences anymore. Well, for whatever reason, this 19 and counting, this family that has 19 kids, people love it. I've never seen the show and frankly, if I did, I'd be too ashamed to tell you. But a lot of people love this show. It's one of the top rated shows on television. And soccer probably don't have to tell you about that, but people love soccer around the world. Not as much in the US but huge, huge, huge audiences for the World cup and other soccer venues all over the world. And this goes to part of it. The revenues go to this organization, this trade organization which has been found to be wildly corrupt and under indictment. How are people going to judge that? Well, it is something where you have to look at it case by case. In the case of the child molester and tlc, I think that's pretty clear cut. Advertisers just got to say, we don't want to be a part of it. Because no CEO wants to face a question from a reporter or an investor saying, why are you subsidizing and promoting a child molester? No CEO wants to face that question. Doesn't matter how good the answer is that the PR firm or the legal team comes up with. It's a question that inherently is damaging and not fun to answer. Now, the soccer situation is a little bit different. Look, folks, we all have biases. I'll share my bias with you. It is my experience that when it comes to professional sports and college level sports, that most people who are normally sane, rational, intelligent, smart, completely destroy their brains and become irrational. They're no longer capable of rational thought. If the subject is sports, I've seen it time and time again, whether it's governors, senators, city council members, mayors who normally consider themselves fiscally prudent will gladly hand over billions of dollars to billionaires to give them their workspace, their stadiums. And if their schools have to go without roofs and their roads turn to dirt, so be it. They'll do it. And voters applaud this. Quite often I've seen people who claim they are against rape and murder, and yet when it's a player on a team they like, somehow they turn a blind eye. So I have a fairly dim view of how human beings are able to even process information when it comes to sports and professional sports. Now, because of this, and it gives me no great pleasure to say this, I don't think there's any real risk of sponsors being associated with this soccer trade association, the governing body. I just don't think that the public is going to punish them because lots of people love soccer. Billions of people all over the world love soccer. They're going to watch it no matter what. And it doesn't matter how corrupt the governing organization is. It doesn't matter how many laws they break. It doesn't matter how much slavery and corruption is swept under the rug. People are going to root for their favorite soccer teams and at some level they are going to appreciate the sponsors behind them. I wish that weren't the case, but that's how I call it. I call it as I see it, not as I want it. And that's why I don't think that the soccer organization is going to have much trouble continuing to round up sponsors. I'm TJ Walker. What do you think?
