Rush Limbaugh Advertisers Drop, Who Wins And Who Loses.

There's been a strong campaign of late by liberals to force Rush Limbaugh advertisers to drop their advertising on Limbaugh's show over his controversial comments on Sandra Fluke. I'm not going to argue one way or the other about his comments. I will say this, controversy is Limbaugh's medium, and anyone who engages him on this battlefield will lose.

All the talk about Rush's Fluke comments and the campaign to boycott advertisers has only increased his ratings. Thanks to the fools trying to sensationalize Limbaugh's comments, there are thousands of people who never gave him a listen who now tune him in to see what all the fuss is about. What liberals fail to recognize is that Rush Limbaugh is not running for election. He is a polarizing figure and generates strong feelings of dislike and all out hatred in some groups. But for every one of them there are 2-3 more with no preconceived notions who tune in for entertainment or a different perspective on politics of the day.

So who is losing in the war to boycott Rush Limbaugh ?

The left would have you believe it's Rush, but think again.

The idea behind boycotting Limbaugh's sponsors is to cut Limbaugh's advertising income - hit him where it hurts. This thinking is seriously flawed. It's flawed because of the effect outlined above - i.e. the controversy increases his audience.

It's also flawed because for every sponsor that does drop, there are 3 more waiting in the wings.

Think about it. The sponsors likely to fall victim to this kind of harassment are going to be big, national corporate sponsors worried about their image in a PC world. For every one of them, there are more smaller companies who can then get their foot in the door advertising at EIB.

As their sales revenue climbs, they'll be willing to pay the advertising fees without question.

Here's a simple example of the power of advertising on Rush Limbaugh's EIB network. I was listening to his show the week after the Sandra Fluke comments, prior to the organized campaign against his sponsors. He a caller on his show who purported to be Tom Grace, author of a new book, The Liberty Intrigue.

I quickly hit Amazon to check the current sales rank, saved a copy and went back 1 week later.

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank at the time of Grace's call to Rush Limbaugh: #284,174
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank 1 week after the call: #23,787

That's pretty impressive. It's since dropped back down again, and at the time of this writing is #46,994.

The book was published at the start of the year, and the author called about 3 months later, so I doubt the sudden jump is sales was due to a promotional effort on the part of the publisher.

One more thing about the supposed list of Rush's Dropped Sponsors.. I'm not sure how many were really sponsors. I've seen a large number given in various places that I've never heard while listening to his show. Some are no doubt regional sponsors, but I have to question the accuracy of many lists as well as the claims of success on the part of the campaign organizers on the left.