Yes, JetBlue did something stupid. Take a Valium.
Really now
By krempasky Posted in Archived | JetBlue | YearlyKos — Comments (21) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
If you've been hiding in a cave, you might not have noticed that there's a bit of a kerfluffle over the fact that JetBlue is one of the corporate sponsors of the YearlyMoonbat YearlyKos convention.
If JetBlue were a client, I'd have opened my wrists in an attempt to get them to reconsider. But come now, this is not Armageddon. Who knows what idiot at the company agreed to do this - but this is not a particularly big deal. As a rule, if every corporate advertiser who steps into the blogosphere gets rocks thrown at its head...you're going to see a lot fewer large-scale ad campaigns in the medium. And believe me, if you think the blogosphere can survive (thrive?) on political ads, you should put down the crack pipe.
Not to mention, *former* JetBlue CEO Dave Neeleman is no partisan lefty - at least when it comes to his political donations. Hopefully, the lesson learned here for corporate advertisers: spread the wealth. The demographics of readers in either sphere of political blogging are remarkably similar - and good targets for increasing your share of the GDP. But don't try to pick up one side just to alienate the other.
Note: if you're selling recycled sustainable organic granola fleece jackets made in a coop under a fair trade agreement - then you get a pass.
(Finally, any company with a CEO willing to let that patron saint of capitalism, C. Montgomery Burns, take over his blog gets extra points from me.)
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Yes, JetBlue did something stupid. Take a Valium. 21 Comments (0 topical, 21 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
And in fact, I'll bet they made the decision to sponsor BECAUSE of it. Nevermind the donations by the CEO to Joe Lieberman AFTER the primary last year when Kos was calling for blood.
From someone who spends significant bucks in this space, I can vouch they broke a cardinal rule; "know whom thy sponsors".
Corporate image is everything and Kos would normally be too controversial for most in the market. Given the reaction, they may want to rethink this one lest they prepare for a recanting of Kos's more detestable sins (and there are many), ad infinitum with their name attached.
Think Ann Coulter and Verizon, Sallie Mae, et al.
Two final thoughts; if they pull support, it was a gaffe; if not, they don't care. If the latter, it will hurt their sales and rightly so.
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"
Contributor to The Minority Report
and those people obviously have the means to travel to these yearly conventions, so JetBlue might as well try to get some of it.
Of course they should also consider the long-term consequences of non-Kos travelers who decide that this is enough reason to choose another carrier for their own flights.
Therefore, I shall cast my ballot and not fly New York City-based JetBlue. I happily fly with Houston-based Continental Airlines and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. I'm sure that Dallas-based American Airlines is fine, too. :-)
Funny thing is that JetBlue appears to be a "non-union airline" according to its wikipedia entry. I wonder what JetBlue thinks about DailyKos's push for everything union. I wonder what Kos thinks of one of their sponsors being non-union? I guess in the end he's really just a w#0*e who will take money from anyone to stage his socialist convention.
Dave Neeleman is the former CEO of JetBlue. If my memory is corret, he got ousted a few weeks ago.
Personally, I'm not particularly interested if the result is that no big political commentary site can get big corporate donations. This isn't a medium that requires such things.
Run like Reagan!
Who knows what they were thinking? Or what they are thinking now, linking up with the Simpsons movie.
But I can't think of a single large consumer-oriented business that either supports conservative causes, or that tries to present a conservative-friendly image of themselves. I'm not a PR specialist like Mike. But I wouldn't touch anything or anyone that is habitually portrayed on television and in the movies as retrograde, uncool, racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-immigration, or any other kind of anti-liberal. It's just stupid for a business to do so.
I understand that there are some important principles that are being compromised here. But liberals have a nasty habit of organizing boycotts.
Lest I display a really pesky streak of consistency - I'm ok with boycotts when a company shows a systemic and sustained hostility towards our side. (good example is the decade of charitable donations Target gave to Planned Parenthood before stopping under pressure back in 2000-ish)
On the Conservative side, we don't really have people who make a profession out of organizing protests against businesses. (Think about people like Jesse Jackson on the other side.) And we don't really have enough people with no lives, who are willing to organize boycotts out of real sentiments and anger, as opposed to political opportunism.
As I said, for a consumer-facing enterprise, you want to be a million miles away from anything remotely controversial. And the Lefties won the PR battle years ago. They're always going to be seen as being on the side of the angels.
And here's yet another thing: Of the CEOs I know personally, I can't think of a single one who is both a professional manager, and a conservative. Those people are just about as liberal as you'll find anywhere. Entrepreneurs are different, as are some of the old men that run big companies now (but most of them started out as entrepreneurs rather than business professionals anyway).
...Icon Pictures (Mel Gibson)...the various Walton foundations.
Uh, well, Mel Gibson, never mind...
I'd have added Michael Crichton for State of Fear, but good luck optioning that storyline in Hollywood.
--furious
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." -- Darth Vader
Is the screwing you're getting worth the screwing you're getting?
Applicable to politicians of all parties, persuasions and philosophies.
and accept the consequences.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
...take American, or Southwest, or USAir.
--furious
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." -- Darth Vader
Isn't there a wealth of opportunity for JetBlue to sponsor something that is blogosphere-friendly without being so radioactive? It's not like there's a shortage of non-politically radical conferences. And doesn't that fact make this more of a statement that should have these kind of consequences?
I think your point would have better support if there was a reasonable expectation that JetBlue would truly take all comers on this front. I just don't really expect JetBlue to be partnering with RedState, Townhall, or Powerline anytime soon.
(Side point: I'm also pretty sure Neeleman has been gone for a couple of months. Anyone know who the current CEO is?)
Need to update on Neeleman.
But again, it was a dumb thing to do - just saying it's crazy to make war over this.
Yesterday, Patterico used campaignmoney.com as a source. Today you're using opensecrets.org. These are secondhand sources. Why not just go to the FEC, where you'll find that opensecrets is missing a $500 donation to John Mica? It would've actually helped your case.
I've got Neeleman's FEC sheet, along with links to the FEC engine (for candidate contributions & expenditures) and the IRS (for 527s) at Can't See the Center.
(BTW, if you look at contributions before 2007, your case would seem even stronger. He was even a big funder of Joe Lieberman after the netroots declared war on him.)
First, I find it condescending that the original poster tells us to "take a valium". Arrogant.
Second, I am telling everyone I know to NEVER fly JetBlue again.
Why is the original poster taking Kos' side? And why is he talking down to us?
"put down the crack pipe?"
Jihadhis murdered, then burned and hung from a bridge, four Blackwater employees, all of whom were veterans.
Markos' response: "Screw them."
Now, JetBlue is signing up as a sponsor of the conference that lionizes Markos.
IMO an outraged response is justified.
Are you sure it's us who should be taking Valium?
Just asking...
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)