Five…and counting! That’s the number of major advertisers that have pulled their ads from airing during TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting. The reality show, which was once the darling for family product companies to advertise on, has already lost five major advertisers in the wake of the Josh Duggar sex abuse scandal, which broke last week. (Click here and here to read all about that.)
TMZ is reporting that Payless ShoeSource, Walgreens and Choice Hotels have joined General Mills (the first company to pull out of its ad schedule with the show after the scandal broke).
“In the wake of recent news, we are no longer advertising on the ’19 Kids and Counting’ program,” a rep for Walgreens told TMZ on Tuesday.
While TLC has not yet officially cancelled ’19 Kids,’ that time may soon come. Without advertisers, the show cannot go on. The network has not spoken out about the show’s future since it issued its statement on May 22 that informed the public that reruns of ’19 Kids’ had been pulled from the network for the time being.
Even People magazine seems to be turning on the Duggars. The mag, which had pretty much had a monopoly on all Duggar exclusives, has been posting stories that paint Josh and his family in a somewhat negative light—a drastic change from their previous coverage of the family.
While the family hasn’t issued any official statements since their statements on Thursday to People, the magazine spoke with a “source,” (likely a Duggar who didn’t want to go on record), about how the family is coping amidst the scandal.
The ‘source’ told the magazine that Josh’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were “devastated” by the leak of the police report, which confirmed that Josh had been charged with molesting five young girls—including some of his sisters—back when he was a teenager. The Duggar parents have been criticized for not informing the police of their son’s crimes.
“They know that they did the best they could, but it doesn’t mean they’re not filled with regret,” the family source told People.
Even though TLC has not yet cancelled ’19 Kids,’ it has begun pulling down some of the show’s massive presence on the network’s website. This, however, is not Bob and Michelle’s biggest concern right now, says the source.
“Right now they’re just focused on their faith – and each other,” the source said.
Since the scandal broke, all of the Duggars have been basically silent on their social media accounts. The Duggar girls have not yet made their own statements about the abuse they suffered at the hands of their older brother. So far, the only other people from the Duggar camp to speak out regarding the scandal are Amy Duggar (who made it clear over the weekend that she wasn’t one of Josh’s victims) and Michael Seewald (the father of Ben Seewald), who praised Michelle and Jim Bob for the way they handled the situation.
To see all of The Ashley‘s stories on the Josh Duggar sex abuse scandal, click here.
11 Responses
That ‘raise you hand’ picture is cracking me up! Haha
This is weird to me. In Canada if you are underage the media is not allowed to publish your name if you are the victim of a sex crime. This is for protection.
Jim Bob is so cocky. Remember when he said something along the lines that no one can take down his show? These people need off the air. They spread nothing but hate. Josh in fact, was working for a known hate group that donated money to pass a law in an African country (Sorry I forget the country) to put gays to death. I could go on and on about how vile these people are but, I am just making myself mad at this moment.
What is sad is the victims in this story. Society likes to get so focused on the one bad egg out of the whole bunch that they forget about the children who suffered under his hand already are now going to suffer again when they lose everything. Every family has a bad egg and it’s certainly sad that this one might fully destroy them. My heart goes out to the innocent people in this family.
I bet there shakin in their church boots! Bye bye TLC paychecks!! Good riddance duggars
TLC are such hypocrites for not cancelling the show! Josh’s age doesn’t excuse his actions!
Is anyone seriously still gonna watch the show? I sure as hell won’t!
To be fair, the Duggars probably don’t eat a lot of GM cereal (doesn’t come in garbage bag-sized containers), buy new shoes (supposedly, whatever MEchelle might say about thrift stores, the kids seem to be wearing fewer duct-taped cowboy boots these days) and I doubt anyone notices any drugstore-level ailments. The girls probably have to make their own pads (tampons might give them ideas) and James’ clear ADHD/other learning disability that normal people would deal with seems to have flown under the radar. *rubs temples*
These people irritate me. Make the oldest girls raise the next twelve. I know a family of twelve where the mom would get mad if anyone else changed a diaper (they were kids and it wasn’t their job) and a family of fourteen (the youngest four adopted out of foster care as toddlers/preschoolers) where the ‘buddy system’ was basically making sure that your younger buddy made it to and from the car safely.
True, but it doesn’t matter if the Duggars use those items or not. Those companies pay TLC top dollar to advertise during the show due to the high ratings. I may be wrong but I think that’s where a lot of the funding for the show comes from.
I was just riffing off of the caption under the first photo. I understand how advertisements work.
I’m so happy to see the fall of these overly judgmental hypocritical asshats.
My wish for them is to reap, every single bit, of what they have sown.