Aflac Pulls Ads from The Savage Nation Over Host's Autism Comments
Thursday July 24, 2008
Aflac has pulled all of its ads from The Savage Nation over the host's comments about autism. Host Michael Savage made the comments on the air during a recent broadcast.
"I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is," Savage said on his show.
It was just last year that Lowe's pulled its ads from CBS's Big Brother 9 after one of the contestants made a derogatory remark about people living with autism. That contestant, Adam Janinski, was working for the United Autism Foundation of Florida during his time on the reality show.
Vote in the Poll: Should Advertisers Be Held Responsible for Comments TV and Radio Show Hosts Make?
"I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is," Savage said on his show.
It was just last year that Lowe's pulled its ads from CBS's Big Brother 9 after one of the contestants made a derogatory remark about people living with autism. That contestant, Adam Janinski, was working for the United Autism Foundation of Florida during his time on the reality show.
Vote in the Poll: Should Advertisers Be Held Responsible for Comments TV and Radio Show Hosts Make?
Comments
This is wonderful to hear, especially being that
I am insured with Aflac. Nothing else said this is great.
Free Speech is to protect all speech! Think about it, do you need the 1st amendment to protect polite speech? Savage reminds me of an old uncle with wisdom he shares freely. I know that when an advertiser pulls their funding they really only care about their bottom line. I don’t use Aflac anyway… let them go… If Savage has been found to raise further awareness what harm can it do. I have found that most people are either uninformed or react out of emotion…. very few listen to all sides before reacting. I want you to think about this, if people are not allowed to make a mistake when they speak, then you should receive the same harsh treatment he is receiving when you say a bonehead comment. Remember. Forgive!
We have heard this story as far as Australia and I am disgusted at Mr Savage - his name serves him well !
You may say what harm is it and mistakes should be made and what about free speech yada yada yada but look what has happened whenever people dare mention ADD or ADHD ?? where do you think that label all started ?
I want more awareness for Autism YES .
But you have no idea how much slack we as parents take on a daily basis from so called professionals telling us what to do and how to do it and god forbid in Australia if you happen to rock up to a sick child to hospital - just because your child has the label ‘Autism’ you face getting reported to childs services , yet typical ‘normal’ children can be drugged , beaten , bashed here and slip through childrens services !~
We face all of this and plenty more every single day ON TOP of the HEARTBREAK that comes when you have a child with Autism !
Doesn’t anyone get that if it all it took was a kick in the bum to get your kids talking then you would do it ?
I would give my life today to have my children lead a normal life , I would do anything just to hear their voices !!
It is far from easy let me tell you, it is far from giving a kick up the bum to the child , my children do NOT and CANNOT speak and may not ever speak - you tell me how is that anything to do with parenting because even every so called professional has tried and no one can make them do it!!!!!!!
You also explain to me why is it that all of my sisters children are ‘normal’ and only my boys have Autism and tell me why is it such a coincidence that out of all of those children (12 alltogether) that only the children that were vaccinated got Autism - MINE !!
Lets not get started on vax though right ? cause YES its sooooooooooooooo much easier to just lay blame on the parents !!!
Good for Aflac! Sometimes ignorant comments increase a show’s ratings. It is nice to know this bozo’s comments hit the network in the pocket book .. the next best thing to hitting Michael Savage!
Yes, free speech should be protected but at the same time people should be responsible and do some fact finding before they speak about a subject where scientific research still does not know how this disorder comes about. when the Dixie Chics expressed their thoughts,public opinion was not in their favor. As a result, they lost sales and their fan base. Of course, I do agree that companies look at their image and their bottom line because they are after all in the business of making money. Savage did bring the discussion more into the forefront only when the sponsors were at stake. I read that just Aflac had millions in adds. Why didn’t Savage have this discussion with the same experts and this tone of caring for disabled children before?
Savage has quite a bit of power. He has boasted on his show that him and his audience were responible for influincing US Rpresentatives not to give control of our ports to Dubai. Maybe Savage could be just as influencial when it comes to public opinion of private and public funding of Autism.
Programs needed for these children are very expensive and parents end up paying out of pocket since insurance doesn’t cover this disorder.
I believe an audience of eight million listeners could be persuaded that autism is a racket as he was quoted.Savage said he was taken out of context but he is sure presenting things much differently and in a more educative tone. I have a son that has autism and it’s been a long road. I do belive every one is learning something now in a positive way.
It is clear that many people do not have the time or they do not have the intelligence to check the source of information damming someone like Michael Savage. Why not look at Michael’s website (www.michaelsavage.com). Basically, Mediamatters is a hate organization (my opinion) that takes the comments of people they are out to smear, and repeats their remarks out of context. I understand that Hillary Clinton is one of their suppporters.
Michael has recently had some guests with some excellent credentials on his program broadcasting their views to educate listeners on ADD and related ailments. Michael is politically an independent with conservative leaning views. He has a great deal of compassion and sympathy for people and especially families dealing with people with ADD. He had a brother that died in an institution who was mute, blind, and could not walk. He both loved, and was close to his brother until his death as well as into the present. Based on recent broadcasts I have learned that Michael is shedding light on the fact that there are people that are out to make large sums of money by misdiagnosing children. This is without question a cruel trick to play on parents who are very upset and concerned for the welfare of their children.
I recall that I experienced symptoms that, growing up today would have resulted in my being removed from the main stream in school. My parents were ignorant people (compared to the levels of sophistication in the present). They were also busy fighting my mother’s cancer conditions during WW II. Many doctors were understandably ignorant of cancer at that time so the disease spread through her body virtually unchecked by anything but her immune system. She had uterine cancer followed by breast cancer, and finally succombed to liver cancer.
I was very slow in learning to speak during my early childhood. I was painfully shy. (as an adult I learned that I had a social phobia that could be triggered by my sensitivity to my consuming some level of sugar . I also had difficulty learning in the classroom. I noted the topics taught in class, and I taught myself the subject material when I came home from school. I was very motivated to do well in school because I was terrified that poor performance in my school work would get me a severe beating like my older brother received at the hand of our mother.
As a young woman she had to take care of the 13 children that her mother in the lower East side popped out (they did not all survive childhood diseases). She was expecting “Prince Charming” to give her a better life once she was married. This did not happen, and she was ignorant of parenting. I feel sorry for my classmates because I was socially immature. I first started to make real social progress when I was in college.
If I had grown up in this generation I probably would have been overmedicated, and otherwise abused by the medical and educational community.
It disturbs me that other broadcasters on the station in the New York market, fall into the trap of taking Michael’s misquoted comments out of contest. I would think that experienced broadcasters would know better than to make judgements without looking into the source of the organization supplying what, in this example, in intentionally aimed at smearing Michael’s character and marketability.
“First they came for the gypsies. I was not a gypsy so I did not care. Then they came for the union members. I was not a member of a union so I did not care. Then they came for the Jews. I was not Jewish so I did not care. Then they came for me, and there was no one left who could rescue me.” (I apologize for my omitting some of the groups referred to in the original quote.)
I find the comment the Mr. Savage was taken out of context very interesting. I have listened and read and he is not being taken out of context. This is easily verified. Do your research. This man made an ill advised comment on a radio station is going to pay a price finically for that. I believe in the first amendment right of him to say what he wants. I also stongly believe in the free market economy making him responsible for what he says. In my opinoin he was trying to stir something up in an area where he lacked enough knowledge to do so. There is no doubt that kids are misdiagnoised and that there are people out there trying to take adavantage of kids and parents. There is also no doubt that “In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is” is not true.
I would love to know who is other advertisers are so that I could write them as well.
Speaking as a father of a 7 year old with autism, I find Mr. Savage’s remarks sickening. Reading earlier posts from individuals trying to somehow justify his comments are just as sickening. You cannot justify hate and deliberate misinformation of defenseless children. There is simply no defending his comments. He has supposedly tried to defend his comments by saying he was taken out of context. What????? I listened to the entire show. There was no intellectual thought provoking ideas being implied, just a deranged old man that’s past his prime spewing one irrational comment after another. Listening to his non-sense rants makes one ponder if he’s the one with a mental disorder. I’m so glad that AFLAC dropped him. It was the right thing to do, whether they were doing it for THEIR bottom line or not, I was glad. Freedom of speech, yada yada yada. Individuals HAVE to be responsible for the actions- and words. I hope every station that carries this old fart drops him. I have fought so hard for the last 4 years to educate my community on autism. I have founded a local Autism Support Group for parents, teachers and individuals affected by this disorder. A lack of knowledge of Autism is one of the main problems we face. How can we individuals ever make a difference when there’s a blundering little old hairy troll with a 340 radio station audience spewing out misinformation like this. I can go on and on about this vile man and his hatemongering but I’ve got better things to do. I will say one last thing, I would love to let this man walk in my child’s shoes for one day. To see the difficulty that my son has with those simple little things that we all take for granted. I would love for him to feel the hurt that we parents feel as we struggle day by day trying to find a way to help our children. And, I would love for him to feel the hurt that we feel when some ignorant person (like him) says such hurtful things.