• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 5, 2016

Imagine if CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News Channel publicly attacked one of its on-air advertisers, say GEICO, Quicken Loans, or UnitedHealthCare, because those marketers decided they didn’t like CNN’s opinionated and/or factual content.

Let’s go one better: Maybe one of those networks would support an actual boycott of those companies.

No, that wouldn’t happen. But online digital media publication Breitbart News thinks differently. The conservative publication decided to start a boycott of The Kellogg Company with @DumpKelloggs campaign due to the food marketer’s decision to stop advertising on the site because wasn’t “aligned with our values as a company,” a company spokesperson told Bloomberg. Other Breitbart marketers also felt the same way as Kellogg, by the way-- including Allstate, Nest, SoFi and others.

Reaction from media and marketing executives? A media agency executive told one ad trade publication these actions represent “a horrible precedent and would be a huge deterrent to future advertisers.”

Think about another big media platform -- MTV -- when its advertisers left its network airwaves, perhaps upset over edgy, controversial programming marketers didn’t like.

For MTV, one of the latest of instances came back in 2011, when the young-skewing cable network’s controversial scripted show called “Skins” lost a bunch of advertisers -- nine in one particular period.

Did you recall MTV attacking those advertisers -- asking consumers to dump those marketers? No, instead the attacks came from pressure groups like the Parents Television Council against MTV and those marketers.

So you say MTV is not a news organization? Hmmm... There are many critics who believe Breitbart isn’t one either. In the end, the MTV “Skins” show didn’t last -- because viewers didn’t show up. Not because advertisers pulled out.

In the old days, when the big three networks ruled the world, major TV marketers had little choice -- their marketing dollars almost always needed to be spent on broadcast TV.  Few could put up a fuss.

So, in any event, if you are a digital marketer looking to target  conservative news consumers, you might need to ask the question:
Is Breitbart the only game in town for us? Or, do you need to find another sport?