Monday, June 08, 2009

Hooray for corporate responsibility

... and this time, I'm not being sarcastic.

The Sacramento Bee (again, one of the greatest names for a newspaper) has a story by writer Bill Lindelof about a bunch of corporations pulling their ads from a Sacto radio show after the show's hosts made some prety nasty comments about transgendered people (calling them, among other things, "freaks with mental disorders", as the article reports).

So good on Bank of America, Verizon, Chiptole, and even hyper-masculine Carl's Jr. Of course, the good news here is in the change that it represents in the wider culture. These companies would not have pulled their ad money without being certain that it would have a tangible economic benefit-- implying that a majority of people wouldn't condone this kind of ignorant prattle.

From the linked article:

During a May 28 show, one of the three hosts said he would hit his child with his shoe if the boy wanted to wear high heels. Another said he would tell a boy he was "a little idiot" if he asked to wear a dress.

"If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him," said Arnie States, co-host of the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn" show, which usually airs mornings on KRXQ in Sacramento.