TLC had to see this coming. Since it was revealed that Josh Duggar of 19 Kids and Counting admitted to sexually molesting underage girls years ago, four advertisers pulled out of the reality show about a Christian family.
General Mills was the first advertiser to pull its support, followed by retailers Walgreen and Payless ShoeSource as well as hotel chain group Choice Hotels International. Some of the advertisers used Twitter to assure consumers.
“We share your concerns and we have decided to remove our advertising from the show,” said Choice Hotels, which runs Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge chains.
In a tweet Payless said its commercials were “part of a larger buy with TLC,” but that the company is “taking steps to have them removed from future episodes.”
“The network pulled all episodes after In Touch magazine last week published information that Josh Duggar, now 27, had molested several female minors when he was a teen,” reports The New York Daily News. It’s unclear if the show will return to television. TLC is owned by Discovery Communications.
Duggar issued an apology and acknowledged “wrongdoing” 12 years ago. He also quit his job at the Family Research Council, a Christian lobbying group. What makes the situation even more scandalous, it seems the abuse involved Duggar’s sisters. It has been reported that “Josh Duggar molested his younger sisters 12 years ago and that his father, Jim Bob, used his connections with local law enforcement to have the matter hushed,” reports Salon. This info will surely not sit well with advertisers.
The Duggars have been on the air since 2008 and ended its most recent season in May. It is among TLC’s most popular shows; the most recent season averaged 3.5 million viewers per episode, though this was down a bit from 3.9 million the previous season, according to Nielsen.
