Taking on NBC--ready for prime time

M

Monkeyleg

New member
I have the Quark Express files for the letter
to Kimberly Clark and the cover sheet for gun owners ready now. If anybody wants them, e-mail me and I'll send you them as an attachment. Here's the letter, if you want to
print it up yourself:

Mr. Wayne Sanders
Chief Executive Officer
Kimberly Clark Corporation
World Headquarters
351 Phelps Drive
Irving, TX 75038

Dear Mr. Sanders:

There are currently over 80 million gun owners in the United States, of which I am one. Roughly 40% of all households have firearms. Given the sheer size of the gun-owning population, one would think that the news media would treat us with some degree of respect. Sadly, this is not so. ABC, NBC and CBS have engaged in distortion, omission, and outright lies when reporting upon the gun control debate. This is not personal conjucture: reputable, non-partisan media research organizations report that the major news outlets skew their reporting of the issue toward the advocates of gun control by a ratio of 10 to 1.

Millions of us have petitioned the media outlets to provide more balanced reporting on the issue, but to no avail. Apparently, for the media, revenue trumps objectivity.

As paid advertisers, Kimberly Clark Corporation and other companies are unwitting participants in this media bias, of which NBC is arguably the most guilty. Therefore, I am with this letter announcing that I am joining a boycott of all Kimberly Clark products until such time as your company ceases all advertising on NBC. Please know that I bear no malice toward Kimberly Clark, but merely want NBC to present a fair discussion of the gun issue so that the American public can be more educated when they assess various proposals put forth by their elected
representatives.

You will be receiving many copies of this letter, because there are tens of millions of gun owners who are as frustrated with the media as am I. This boycott of Kimberly Clark products will end when your company ceases to advertise on NBC, or when NBC presents the issue in a balanced manner. If you do indeed cease advertising on NBC, you may rest assured that we will resume buying Kimberly Clark products, and will move our boycott to another NBC advertiser.

It is my hope that you will seriously consider the potential impact of this boycott when you meet with your marketing departments and advertising agencies.

Yours truly,


*****************************

And here's the cover sheet:

ARE YOU SICK OF MEDIA BIAS TOWARD GUN
OWNERS?

Of course you are. Every night ABC, CBS and NBC claim you are the cause of all the violence they report.
They claim that if the federal government would just put more restrictions on your rights, the criminals
would stop shooting each other. They claim that by registering your guns, fingerprinting you and taking
your mugshot, all the violence will go away. Of course, they rarely give representatives of gun owners a
chance to counter their charges. Instead, they talk about “semiautomatic revolvers, semiautomatic machine guns, sniper rifles” (that means your scoped hunting rifles) and other baloney without ever checking the
facts.

Would you like to see some more balanced reporting? You can. The chief executives of these networks
understand one thing: money. And their money comes from advertisers. Advertisers like Kimberly Clark, a
manufacturer of toilet paper and other products. Gun owners nationwide have started a boycott of Kimberly
Clark to force them to stop spending their advertising dollars on NBC TV.

You can help in this effort to force NBC to report accurately on gun issues by signing and mailing the
accompanying letter to Kimberly Clark CEO Wayne Sanders. Then follow up by boycotting all of Kimberly
Clarks’ products, which are: Kleenex, Cottonelle, Viva, Scott, Huggies Diapers, Baby Wipes, Pullups, Goodnites, Little Swimmers, Kotex, New Freedom, Lightdays, Security, Depend, Poise, Wypall,
Kimwipes, Surpass, and Neenah Paper.

Imagine Tom Brokaw having to admit that trigger lock laws wouldn’t have stopped a six year old living in a
crackhouse from firing a stolen gun. Or that new gun laws wouldn’t have stopped a gang shooting in Washington DC, where all guns are already illegal! Would you like to see Brokaw eat crow? It CAN
happen!

There are over 80 million gun owners in the US. We are the largest single-interest group in the country. We can set the TV anchors mouths right, but we can’t do it without your help. All you have to do is sign the letter, put it in an envelope and mail it. And then not buy the products listed above. Is that too much to ask of you to protect your rights?

HAVEN’T YOU HAD ENOUGH?

******************************************

I'd sure hate to see this backfire because nobody took the time to lick a stamp.

Dick
 
Mine will go out tomorrow. Great work, Dick.

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
I'll shoot mine out tomorrow. We need to pass this around to the various RKBA sites too, anyone have a list ?
 
I just phoned the CEO's office (972-281-1200)to see if they had a fax line. I was told that they only allow people to fax them if K-C wants their fax. When asked why I wanted the fax number I informed the lady there that the was a boycott movement forming and why. I mentioned something about several million hits on our web page already (okay, I strectched the truth a little). She sounded a little troubled and said that smail-mail was the only way.

Not taking this lying down I looked around and found that they have a web site at www.kimberly-clark.com that lists an interactive page that allows customer feed back. <evil grin>

I copied and pasted the letter Monkeyleg so gratiously supplied. I wrote "private" in the lines wanting my phone number, address, city and zip. If they don't want my faxes, I don't want their letters. I did give them my state.

[This message has been edited by Libertarian (edited May 02, 2000).]
 
Statment: I have no problems going after groups
like NBC and company.

Question: Do we want to go after some one like AARP who I'm find out is in bed with
HCI???

This is a letter that is starting to go out
to AARP
___________________________________
American Association of Retired Persons
Horace B. Deets, Executive Director
3200 East Carson Street
Lakewood, CA 90712

Dear Mr. Deets:

I recently received a membership renewal statement in the mail, under your signature. I am taking this opportunity to say to you, personally, "No Thank You." I’m sure that, should you actually see this letter, you will ask yourself "Why?"

As I passed the age of 50 and started looking forward to the "retirement" portion of my life, membership in AARP was attractive because of the potential for discounts on insurance, & travel lodging, and age-related representation in Washington.

A glitch in that representation is what I am objecting to. Had I known what AARP’s stand was on firearm ownership, the second amendment, and its hand-in-pocket relationship with Handgun Control Inc, I’d have cancelled, rather than simply not re-upping. You see, shooting is my favorite hobby. Some would call me "a gun-nut." I prefer "outspoken activist."

I’m not sure if you are aware or even care about the millions of times firearms are used every year to prevent crime. Many of those times are to protect the lives of Senior Citizens. Positive press about firearms just doesn’t seem to have the same media impact as a nice schoolyard shooting does.

Facts are, as your membership gets older and their physical abilities decline, they become "prey" when out in public, and even in their own homes. Hiding and waiting for a 9-1-1 response when threatened is not my idea of "quality of life." Having the means to deal with a young, aggressive, most likely armed intruder is my right as an American citizen. To me, that means keeping and bearing arms. To have an organization that claims to support the rights of Seniors working to diminish those rights is to me, reprehensible.

But what about accidents, you say? As regrettable as any accident with a firearm is, most can be prevented by safe handling. There are, indeed, too many accidents that occur due to unsafe handling and storage of weapons. It’s a matter of training and education, not registration, legislation and bans. Balance the millions of crimes (and in many cases, deaths) prevented by the use of firearms against the mere hundreds of accidental deaths. (Note: the number of accidental deaths in 1998 was the lowest its ever been since they began tracking the stats.) To me, the benefits far outweigh the hazards… --actually by several tens of thousands to one. In spite of being at significantly greater risk of dying in an automobile accident than in one by a firearm, I don’t see AARP trying to ban automobiles. Go figure.

If you want me to give you my support, ditch HCI and stop sending your members’ money to organizations working to diminish their rights as law-abiding citizens.


Yours, with some regrets
________________________________________

Or should we just be one battle at a time?
 
Imagine that! Using a boycott to attract attention. Let me pass on the benefit of 20+ years experience in business marketing. The CEO of KC or any large company is a marginal target to notify of a boycott.

Your best bet is to identify the branded products of a corporation and get on the telephone to find out the name of the Brand Manager. The BM is responsible for that product. His future in his industry or his corporation is directly tied to what happens to the brand. The BM is also responsible for overseeing (in lots of cases) millions of dollars in advertising. He is the place in the company where pain is most tenderly felt and where action to alleviate that pain can and will be initiated. It will take a little more work but I guarantee you an increase in phone calls hunting a brand manager's name will turn heads. Brand Managers rule the roost and have absolute authority of the public image of their product(s). They get what they want. . . particularly if a stable of brand managers all tell the same story.

I commend the used a boycott; I just suggest hunting different game.

------------------
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
Waitone, that's an excellent point. I'm sure that every member of this forum would have no problem writing letters to each of the brand managers of Kimberly Clark. But, we need the
letters from the "lazy middle," if you will, to have an impact. As it is, it will probably take some arm-twisting to get them to send one letter, much less dozens. But this is just getting started, so if you have any suggestions, please post them soon.

Thanks,
Dick
 
After I posted my reply yesterday I had additional thoughts. KC's pressure points are Brand Managers IMHO. Now let's direct our attention to media outlets. Most promotional advertising will go to print and electronic media. In this case aapproaching print media I think will be a non-starter. Electronic media is a different matter. I refer specifically to TV. KC will spend lots of $ supporting their products in TV. The local affiliate is a pressure point. NBC, for example, is not likely to pay attention to a group of knuckle-draggging, gun-totin', tobacco spitting Second Amendment reactionaries. NBC will pay attention to complaints from its affiliates PARTICULARLY during sweeps weeks (2x per year) when these same reactionaries pepper them with letters, faxes, emails, etc.

Just a simple question. . . . how come the NRA, GOA, NSSF, etc. do not offer courses in Lobbying 101? :confused:

------------------
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
I viewed the 'Mandatory Minimums' episode of The Broken Wing, I mean The West Wing, as planned. No ill effects from exposure to the conditioning have been observed. My previous exposure to TFL may have made me immune to that dosage level. I'm hardly immune to Ms. Matlin's charms, though.

Back on topic, here is a list of sponsors:

Michelob
Chevrolet
MCI
Burger King
Jeep
McDonald's (2 spots)
American Express (2 spots)
New York Life
exploreminnesota.com
Nissan (2 spots)
Tombstone Pizza
Maybelline
Dr. Pepper
American Century Investments
Sears
1-800-COLLECT
Zyrtec
Kodak
Ford
US Cellular
Telecom USA
Folger's
Microsoft
Purina

Some of these may be Midwestern regional sponsors. Did any TFLers in the South or on the right or left coasts make a list?

Monkeyleg, I'm at your disposal for any further legwork on this project. I think Waitone's POV on brand managers and NBC local affiliates makes sense.

Looking at the list, we should already be boycotting American Century Investments.

I will join in the attack on Kimberly-Clark today.

------------------
Slowpoke Rodrigo...he pack a gon...

I voted for the Neal Knox 13

I'll see you at the TFL End Of Summer Meet!
 
I just can't help throwing my 2 cents in the pot. Slowpoke_Rodrigo demonstrates the key issue. That problem is we are in a "target rich environment." Everywhere you turn the is an organization richly deserving attention. Where to start?

I suggest identifying the top 5 broadcast shows, monitor those shows, and develop a list of advertisers. When you look across the top 5 shows, my guess is we'll see a handfull of major companies. Then we can ID the products and therefore brand management. We will also have a list of the affiliates broadcasting those shows.

I think everyone in this audience can appreciate the difference in a 12 ga shotgun and a .50 cal rifle. The NAACP will be ultimately successful in removing the Confederate flag in SC because they focused on one state while up to a total of 5 have the Confederate regalia. Those of us who delight in ferreting out hypocracy pointed out the inconsistence in attacking only one state. The NAACP honed their approach in SC and are now opening operations in MS, AL and GA. Arkansas and Tennessee are not yet targeted. Gee, I wonder why?????

Anyhow, start slow and focus, focus, focus.

:D

------------------
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
"Anyhow, start slow and focus, focus, focus."

Thanks, Waitone. This kind of effort is possible, but we have to overcome the inertia within our own ranks.

I was at the range today, and there were six other shooters. I gave each of them the cover sheet and letters, and asked them to sign and mail. Three of them said they would, two said they might, and one said he never writes or sends letters. A waste of time, he said. This is a a guy who's retired at 58, has more guns than anyone I've ever seen, and shoots every single day. A couple of times Bluesman has chided me for saying that gun owners are lazy; when I made those comments, it was in reference to guys like this.

So, on we march, carrying this 220 pound sumbitch on our backs.

Dick
 
History repeats itself:

1) A people's rights are denied.

2) Discussion and dissention develop.

3) Grass roots organizations arise.

4) Boycotts are organized.

5) Business begins to take note.

6) Business talks to government.

7) Government unwilling to respond due to social agenda.

8) Marches and protests occur.

9) Nothing changes. Rights are still denied.

10) Agrieved party splits into: peaceful/let's-talk-it-out faction vs. violent/first, kill-all-the lawyers faction.

Re. The Haganah and the Palmach, The IRA and Sinn Fien, Bomb-Thowers and Lawyers, etc.

11) Agrieved parties resort to civil disobedience.

12) People get hurt. Some die.

13) The Fourth Estate controls the images.

14) Government begins talks with: peaceful/let's-talk-it-out faction of agrieved party.

15)The Bomb-Throwers continue pressure on the Government so the talks continue.

16) People get hurt. Some die.

17) Protests and marches call for and end to: the violence, the usurption of inalienable rights.

18) People get hurt. Some die.

How does it end? ?Quien sabe?

The only way to prevent the scenario above is a Supreme Court decision gutting state and federal firearms laws. Maybe we need a test case. Maybe the Lawyers and the Bomb-Throwers could find a someone willing to risk, "...their life, their fortune, and their sacred honor." and get the RKBA before the Justices.


[This message has been edited by William R. Wilburn (edited May 10, 2000).]
 
Re. The Supreme Court test case.

The Court has not always ruled in a Constituional or moral fashion. Take the Dred Scott case of 1858. The Court's ruling laid a plank in the platform from which the War of Northern Aggression rose and established government by the sword in our nation.
 
Just wondering if anyone has noticed any success in this effort in their areas.

It's sad. The gay rights activists have managed to get Proctor and Gamble, United Airlines and one or two other major advertisers to drop sponsorship of Dr. Laura Schlesinger's program. (This isn't a gay-bashing thread, BTW. I have friends of 20 or more years who are gay). There are maybe
20 or so million gay or lesbians in the US, a quarter or so of our numbers. Of those, I'm sure a fraction are active in the gay-rights
movement. Yet, they are able to get three or four big corporations to sing their song. We can't even get our folks to write a letter or even just sign a letter.

Does anyone have _any_ insight into the complacency of the average gun owner? I just do _not_ get it. It's like trying to teach a kid who's been the target of the playground bully for eight years to learn how to fight, only to see him put his hands in his pockets and take another one on the chin.

Dick
 
Wonder if any of the activists own guns? Bet they do, why not hire them to do the same. They have no kids and lots of disposable cash heck, I'll bet some are already members of our diverse group! Darryl, check out my post tonight don't know if you can use it with AARP but certainly deserves mentioning that a 68 year old fought off two thugs with his gun and lived to tell!
Always pull for the underdog, if you win the win is always the sweeter.
 
My question is: Why go straight to the boycott before you attempt to ask the sponsors why they participate in this type of journalism and if they would be willing to attempt to change it? Perhaps they need to see the studies mentioned and see that there is a definite bias in the news. I raised my kids with this one notion: If you start nice you can always move to nasty if the need arises but if you start nasty it is damned hard to get beck to nice.

As for the AARP: Send AARP articles of successful senior gun defenses to these idiots and let them see that it is their members that are the primary targets of those cowards who choose the easy mark. Also send them the stories where the elderly have been victimized because of the lack of a defensive weapon.

------------------
Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.
 
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