A group of advertisers have pulled spots from Network Ten's The Bolt Report as a Facebook campaign urging advertisers to boycott the show attracts growing support.
TeleChoice, Mr. Rentals and iPrimus have reportedly asked Ten to stop airing their TVCs during the program, hosted by controversial Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt.
A spokesperson for Mr. Rentals told AdNews that the brand never intended to advertise during The Bolt Report. She said: "The spot was given to us as a bonus and unfortunately we had a spot aired during the timeslot. We've told Channel 10 that under no circumstances do we want to advertise during that show.
"We don't share or support his [Andrew Bolt] views and we don't want to be associated with that show."
It's understood that TeleChoice had booked advertising for the timeslot when it was broadcasting the youth-oriented Video Hits program. The ISP has pulled its spots from the timeslot because it doesn't match the demographics it thought it was targeting.
A Network Ten statement said: "Since launching The Bolt Report, a number of clients who previously advertised within the Sunday morning edition of Video Hits have relocated their campaigns to some of our more youth-focused programming on Ten. The Bolt Report has been selling well and continues to attract interest from a range of advertisers.
"Network Ten works closely with all of its clients to ensure that we find the right programs to help showcase their brands. We regularly recommend programs and timeslot that we believe will deliver very defined audiences for our clients."
A Facebook campaign called Operation Bolt-Cutter was set up by comedian and writer Christian Price this week urging advertisers to boycott the program. It has attracted more than 900 supporters.
Price told AdNews: "I created this Facebook event almost out of curiosity and just invited friends and family, thinking I might get a dozen or so replies at best. Now, there are over 900 members, so it's quite clear a lot of people out there agree with the idea."
Responding to criticism of his campaign, Price said: "The main criticism they seem to be making is that they feel the members of the group are against freedom of speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn't dream of ever stopping Bolt from speaking his mind, all we're doing here is simply speaking ours."
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