Nissan has announced that it will no longer advertise on the ABC show, “Nothing Sacred.” Though not by design, Nissan ads did appear in New York, San Diego and St. Louis on a previous episode of “Nothing Sacred.” Like most of the other companies that once advertised on the show, and then withdrew, Nissan bought air time on ABC only to learn later that some local stations placed its ad on the controversial program. A spokesman for the automobile company confirmed that this was a mistake.
Nissan becomes the 32nd company to withdraw sponsorship of “Nothing Sacred.” Those who previously quit are: Isuzu, Weight Watchers, K-Mart, Benckiser, DuPont, Red Lobster, Ocean Spray, Sears, Glaxo Wellcome, Ponderosa, Dunkin’ Donuts, Scott’s Liquid Gold, Chrysler Plymouth, Honda, Arm & Hammer, Home Depot, Borden, Alberto Culver, Montgomery Ward, Ovaltine, Dairy Queen, Mutual of Omaha, Telecom*USA, Cigna, McCormick, Pier 1, NordicTrack, John Paul Mitchell Systems, Meineke, Fantom Technologies Direct and A&M Products.
Catholic League president William Donohue greeted the news this way:
“The Catholic League commends Nissan for the sensitivity its corporate officials have shown for the sensibilities of Catholics. May they have a robust market.
“It’s easy to gloat, so why resist? After watching who’s left advertising on ‘Nothing Sacred,’ it’s a sure bet that there will soon be an (800) number that consumers can call to order those famous Japanese knives. You know, the ones that cut tomatoes without smashing them to smithereens. My only hope is that the knives don’t wind up bumping the John Denver ads; that’s the best part of the show.”
