BIG UPDATE: Both NetBank and Verizon have pulled their ads on Coulter's website. See the diary for info on NetBank and the comments for info on Verizon! ALSO, Washington Mutual has pulled their ads. See comments!
It is a GREAT day!
ORIGINAL DIARY:
A couple days ago VolvoDrivingLiberal wrote a diary in which he gave a list of advertisers who advertise on AnnCoulter.com.
VDL's Original Diary
Based on this diary, I emailed Matthew Shepherd, Directory of Corporate Communications for NetBank. It was a Sunday and within a couple hours, he emailed me back. It was definitely not a canned email response.
He was unaware that NetBank was advertising on her site since they use an agency to sell their ads. He promised to look into it.
Today, Monday, he got back to me saying they were pulling their ads from her site.
I would consider this a big win for us! Anyone else have any more?
I think I may have been one of only a few to contact them (from reading his emails, he doesn't mention a lot of emails flying at them). I think this shows that many of these corporations may not even know who they are advertising on and once they find out, they pull the ads.
Here is my original email to Netbank.
Mr. Shepherd,
I have been using NetBank for probably close to 10 years. I love your CD rates and the whole concept of NetBank.
So, I was shocked recently to find out that NetBank advertises on Ann Coulter’s Website (www.anncoulter.com). She has long been one of the worst people in politics. She does nothing but divide people. I find her nothing less than disgusting. Last year, she joked about having someone kill a liberal Supreme Court Justice. Just this week, she called John Edwards a ‘faggot’ (and to the loud applause by a everyone attending a convention of Conservatives).
Maybe you are conservative, maybe not. In either case, I would hope you find her lies (and they have been shown to be lies over and over again) and horrible opinions to be beneath a company like NetBank.
I usually don’t boycott, but I will monitor the situation and see what NetBank’s response is. A response that only says you are appalled by her comments is not enough in my book. I will then decide what to do as my CD’s mature. I would happily give up a percentage point on a CD (or 3) to do the right thing.
Thanks for your time and service
Here is the response he sent me back on a Sunday a few hours after my original email.
I received your e-mail. We sincerely appreciate your business as well as your concern with our advertising efforts.
Our company prides itself on being an exemplary corporate citizen. We do not endorse political candidates or personalities. We focus our involvement in the communities we are fortunate to serve through financial and volunteer support of non-profit organizations that foster home ownership for low- to moderate-income families or educational programs designed to bridge the digital divide that has developed in our society.
I was not aware that we had an ad posted to the Web site you reference. Although we conduct due diligence and maintain certain standards for the advertising networks we use to traffic some of our promotions, it is possible that one of these networks is feeding ads to the site you question. I will follow up immediately to ensure that any such promotion is within our guidelines.
Again, thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. If I may be of further assistance, please let me know.
Matthew Shepherd
And here is the response I got back on Monday with the good news.
We identified the ad network that was serving our ad to the site you questioned. The site is not a commercial property so it falls outside of our typical guideline. The site will therefore be removed from our list of promotional channels. Please let me know if you have questions or need anything more.
Matthew Shepherd
Director, Corporate Communications
O: 678-942-2683
mshepherd@netbank.com
I plan to email him my thanks back today.
Anyone else have any good news?
UPDATE: Wow! A recommended diary! Thanks! But we all deserve the thanks for our hard work!