Verizon Wireless, Cici's Pizza, The UPS Store and four other companies were surprised to learn their commercials ran during the series premiere of "Jill & Jessa: Counting On," a spinoff series of the Duggar family's canceled TLC series, "19 Kids and Counting". The companies have fired back and pulled their advertising, wanting no association with the disgraced family.
TLC canceled "19 Kids and Counting" in July 2015 after a report revealed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's oldest child Josh Duggar sexually molested five under-aged girls in 2006, four of them being his younger sisters. The show lost multiple sponsors before the network pulled the plug.
The controversy continued a month later when data leaked from the cheating website Ashley Madison revealed Josh had an account and had cheated on his wife and the mother of his four children. Within a week, he checked into a long-term treatment center after confessing to the cheating.
TLC launched the "Jill & Jessa" spinoff late last year with a three-episode special. The show focuses on the Duggar sisters who are both married and each has one child. The rest of the family has appeared on the new show except for Josh.
Media expert David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Visions" warns TLC will have difficulty finding any advertising for the Duggars given the family's recent history.
"The Duggars are radioactive right now," Johnson said. People will see that this new show is just a desperate ploy by the Duggars to reclaim the spotlight and hopefully make some dollars off the public."
Pure Michigan, Whitewave Foods, Choice Hotels and Mattress Firm also complained about their ads running during the spinoff. Most said they have directed TLC to not run their advertising during Duggar-related programs.
"Cici's prides itself on being a family-friendly restaurant. We recently made a large advertising buy on cable television that spanned several networks but did not target any particular program," a rep for Cici's Pizza said. "When we learned one of our ads was placed adjacent to controversial programming, we took immediate action to stop it."
The UPS Store has put "Jill & Jessa: Counting On" and other Duggar shows on its "list of exclusions" and Verizon claims it didn't have control where its ads ran. Choice Hotels blamed TLC for the ads running during that timeslot.
"We are not a sponsor or an advertiser on any TV shows or specials about the Duggars," the company said. "If any ads run, it is an error of the network as our advertising agency has directed them to remove our advertising from the show."
"Jill & Jessa: Counting On" airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on TLC.
