Media agency leaders have expressed mixed opinions about whether radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands will survive the latest scandal, as Southern Cross Austereo apologises for his actions.
The industry has been thrown into a frenzy this week, following Sandilands' personal attacks on a News Limited journalist, where he referred to her as a “fat slag”, among other insults.
Following his outburst, a raft of sponsors and advertisers have pulled ads from Sandilands' radio show, including the Federal Government, Telstra, Holden, Vodafone, Medibank, Blackmores, Crazy John’s, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and Fantastic Furniture.
While all media buyers have agreed that the short term impacts on Kyle Sandilands’ radio and television shows are negative, due to the exodus of advertisers, industry figures have expressed mixed opinions about whether the shock jock will survive the latest scandal.
Ikon joint managing director Annick Perrin has argued that Sandilands cannot emerge unscathed from the fiasco, largely because he has been involved in media scandals in the past which led to advertisers pulling their support.
“All the advertisers have pulled their support, so this is not a good position to be in,” Perrin said. “It’s coming towards the end of the survey period, so Kyle will be going on a break, but I can’t see him lasting that long. He might come back, but he’ll do something like this again and advertisers will remove their support again.
“You just cannot behave like that. It’s one thing to be funny, but he goes too far. You just can’t have brands pulling their support. This isn’t the first time he has been involved in a scandal where advertisers reacted negatively. He is on a downwards spiral.”
However, OMD chief executive Peter Horgan said the Sandilands brand will survive, largely because his brand is built around controversy.
“Dealing with Kyle is like dancing with the devil, but that’s part of the allure,” Horgan said. “But he is truly polarising. When you make an attack personal and gender-confronting, there’s another level of danger.
“But his brand will survive, purely because shock and controversy are part of the equation when it comes to Brand Kyle.”
MPG general manager Jason Dooris said: "Sponsoring or leveraging Kyle, a shock jock, and being horrified when he shocks is a little like buying a house near the airport and then complaining about the noise. Were his comments acceptable, no, were his comments surprising, no, were they to be expected at some stage, of course they were."
MEC Australia chief executive Peter Vogel said Sandilands future will be decided by the consumer. Vogel has argued that advertisers will come back to Sandilands if consumers do.
“It all depends on the consumer. Consumers have forgiven him for the last couple of outbursts. The advertisers will only drift back if the audience forgives him. Look at what happened to the Murdoch Empire, look at the people’s uprisings in places like Egypt. People are more powerful now than ever before. If they can bring down governments and newspaper empires, they can bring down radio presenters.
“If audiences move away from him, it won’t have a major impact on Southern Cross Austereo, aside from the immediate revenue impact. People’s loyalty is to programs and people, not to networks and stations.”
MediaCom Melbourne managing director Philip Phelan said: “Honestly, I think Kyle is going through his “Erotica” phase, as Madonna did in the early nineties. After Like a Prayer sold 15m albums worldwide she lost her way confusing provocation and talent. She released the awful Erotica album which flopped and then the Sex book which was even worse. It took her another 7 years to realize what made her great and get back to the same level of critical and commercial success.
“Austereo and Kyle do have a responsibility to very quickly work out which bits of Brand Kyle are what makes him great for listeners and advertisers and at all costs they must avoid Kyle releasing a book like Madonna’s.”
Meanwhile, Southern Cross Austereo chief executive Rhys Holleran has issued a public statement chastising Sandilands for his behaviour.
“Kyle speaks his mind,” Holleran said, “however in this case we recognise that his opinions have caused offence and sincerely apologise. Southern Cross Austereo does not condone his sentiments, is addressing issues with Kyle personally and assessing internal systems and processes. We value our listeners and clients dearly and hold the utmost respect for their opinions and actions.”
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