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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Charlotte Radio: Commercials Give Dept. Store Headaches

Charlotte-based Belk Inc. found itself in the middle of an online battle between political partisans this week, when an ad featuring the company ran on conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s radio program on WBT 1110AM/99.3 FM.

The fight highlights the fine line companies walk with advertising and social media, according to the Charlotte News-Observer.

The ad featuring Belk was apparently first noticed Monday by a group on Facebook that monitors Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers in an effort to pressure the talk show host financially. On Tuesday, the liberal website DailyKos mentioned the ad in a posting.

People started posting messages on Belk’s Facebook page protesting the ad. “I cannot support or recommend your business to my relatives in the South while you sponsor the Rush Limbaugh show,” wrote Heather Santiago, in a comment on the retailer’s page.

Tuesday morning, Belk posted a message on the Facebook page explaining that it doesn’t advertise with Rush Limbaugh, and the ad was run by one of the company’s vendors as part of a new campaign. “We’ve asked the vendor to pull the ads featuring Belk from The Rush Limbaugh Show going forward,” the company wrote.

Belk spokeswoman Jessica Graham told the Observer that the department store company doesn’t advertise on talk radio at all, conservative or liberal, and the company was surprised by the Facebook messages about an ad on Limbaugh’s show.

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