CVS/pharmacy's Stance On Glenn Beck

Today I had the pleasant surprise of finding an email in my inbox from a CVS/pharmacy’s Customer Relations specialists. Why would CVS/pharmacy send me an email you might be wondering? Well, it is simple, but lets give some background first.

You have probably heard by now the famous claim Beck made on his show about Obama being a racist. After this statement was made an organization called Color of Change made it their crusade to have Beck fired from FOX News. This organization started contacting all companies that had advertised during his show, or in some cases had advertised on Fox News period, asking them if they had heard about the outlandish claim Beck had made and to support the boycott of him by removing their ads from airing during his cable show or Fox News in hopes of having him fired. Some companies have responded to this call for a boycott including: Wal-Mart, Saragento Cheese, Progressive Insurance, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and CVS/pharmacy to name a few.

Now when I heard about this boycott and that companies I frequent often agreed to pull their ads, I decided I would wrote them a letter explaining I would no longer be a customer of theirs. I stated that I would now support their competitors that have not taken part of this boycott. To be honest I never imagined I would hear from any of the companies, so you can imagine my surprise when I received the letter from CVS/pharmacy.

In the letter it was explained to me that CVS/pharmacy had actually never “requested time on Glenn Beck’s show specifically”, but after Beck’s statement they instructed their advertising agent to “inform Fox to ensure Glenn Beck’s program is not part of our advertising plan”. She explained that CVS/pharmacy’s “position is simple and was not driven by taking sides in any political debate.  We support free speech of all kinds, and vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans.  But we expect the speech and the debate to be informed, inclusive and respectful, in keeping with our company’s core values and commitment to diversity.  In our view, Mr. Beck crossed the line.”

I was delighted to read what CVS/pharmacy’s position is on debate and how they will not advertise on any show that does not support their core values and commitment to diversity. Below is my response to CVS/pharmacy.

I am glad to hear that you “support free speech of all kinds, and vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans.  But we expect the speech and the debate to be informed, inclusive and respectful, in keeping with our company’s core values and commitment to diversity” seeing as this means you will never have your advertisements shown during any news conference where any of the democrats who have called grassroots participants Nazis. That would mean that whenever Pelosi is on air, we will never see a CVS/pharmacy commercial, since this would be against the core values and commitment to diversity.

I find great comfort knowing that if Harry Reid or almost all of the senate and House of Representatives are on the air, we will be sure never to see a CVS commercial since they have stated that the grassroots members were paid lobbyists by the oil and insurance companies, which was a blatant lie.

Thousands of citizens everywhere practiced their right to speak freely, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment and they (myself included along with several hundred friends) were called paid lobbyists, tea baggers, etc. All demeaning and disrespectful to the millions of citizens who got together to show their disapproval of what is going on.

I am also grateful that we will never see a CVS commercial during the coverage of elections since we all know a majority of politicians lie, give false facts, and are not respectful to those that disagree with them, which is counter to CVS’s core values.

The commitment from CVS to show equality by not showing their commercials during any show that has a political theme as inferred by the email I received is of the greatest comfort.

Thank you CVS for that promise.

As my response indicates, I am thrilled and happy with the position that they are taking and hope that all companies will follow their lead! I honestly hope they will live to their word, but I doubt it.