• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 14, 2017

Here is something for advertisers of TV news content to fear: If you pull advertising from a show because of content, you might be subject to a "reverse TV advertising boycott." In short, consumers smashing your products to show their displeasure.

But more importantly, will TV consumers push you to buy TV advertising in the show again?

Coffee maker Keurig pulled out of Fox News' “Hannity” because of Sean Hannity’s coverage of sexual allegations around U.S. Alabama Republican Senate challenger Roy Moore.

Now, Bob Gamgort, CEO of Keurig Green Mountain, has apologized for “taking sides.” But he did not mentioned the obvious. Would Keurig be running TV advertising again in “Hannity”?

I’m pretty sure “Hannity” or loyal Hannity viewers cannot “force” the coffee maker into airing TV advertising in the show. But hey, there was apology -- and some shaming.

For years, it has been cloudy at best when determining the reasons behind TV advertisers pulling commercials from shows as a result of certain content -- say, racy stuff on MTV. That's especially true when there is no public comment from the company.

That’s because many national TV advertisers do specific time-sensitive campaign flights in TV shows. So TV commercials won’t run an entire season, a specific quarter or even a particular month. The average TV viewer doesn’t always know this.

Social media now puts a different spin on things when it comes to marketers. It launches immediate response and engagement for or against stuff certain behavior/actions. What’s a brand to do?

Social media posts in the Hannity/Keurig case had virulent language against the coffee maker -- in part due to encouragement from Hannity when it came to Keurig’s TV ad departure.

Social media content included videos of people smashing Keurig coffee machines. To date, I haven’t seen a video of anyone threatening to smash a Keurig machine unless the company buys a TV schedule in a TV show.

Alert to TV media planners everywhere: It’s complicated out there.