Response from Mattel

[Clintmax]

I just received this response from "Mattel" about my e-mail to them asking them to boycott Sinclair:
___________________________________________________________________
Thank you for contacting Mattel. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers on issues that are important to them.

We have discussed your comments with the appropriate area at Mattel. Mattel's policy is to work with our advertising agencies to pre-screen all programming that Mattel commercials are placed in. We do not endorse or support a specific political party or candidate, and would not support any related programming with our advertising.

We advertise on a broad range of stations, including local, national and cable programming. As you can imagine, advertising decisions are made with advanced planning and we had no prior knowledge of Sinclair's actions at the time of these decisions.

Our philosophy at Mattel is to support candidates and parties through the Mattel Political Action Committee, which is filed publicly with the FEC (federal elections commission).

We suggest that if you have concerns pertaining to Sinclair's broadcasting practices that you contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) directly. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can be contacted by logging onto WWW.FCC.Gov or by calling 1-888-225-5322.

Sincerely,

Mattel, Inc.
Consumer Relations
_____________________________________________________________________

Is this a Cop-Out or WHAT?

[cthrumatrix]

1. Mattel just LOST some $$$$$$$ Christmas shoppers ....eff them

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Mega cop out...Tell them Barbie has just been evicted from your

home. :hi:

[Clintmax]

3. That and a lot of other toys too!

[LiberalAndProud]

4. Barbie is yesterday's news anyway. Buy Bratz. Boycott Mattel.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. I cannot see how any company that supports divorce and the breakup

of family values (i.e. Barbie) for supporting Sinclair. ;)

[spartan61]

6. That is exactly the same form letter I received from Mattel.

[Clintmax]

7. Too bad

It's too bad these corporations just don't get it. Welcome to DU!

[KharmaTrain]

8. Matel PAC????

Wanna bet we find this is a group that fight child protection laws. When a corporation not only mention it has a Political Action Committee but promotes it, I wonder who they're really protecting here.

Another typical "we won't advertise during the show" cop-out letter. That's not what these complaints are about, it's supporting Sinclair, period.

[Iceburg]

13. Cash on Hand $146K -- no record yet of its recipients as of Sep 30

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.asp?strID=C00340224

[Adamocrat]

9. Buy from HASBRO!

The Hassenfeld family (founders and majority owners of Hasbro) are very committed Democrats, and they're very generous to the party/candidates. They also run a free hospital for children. Good people.

-A

[Democrat 4 Ever]

12. News blurb the other night was talking about companies that

are not doing so well in this economy. Mattel has posted less than projected earnings for the last quarter and Barbie is doing really, really bad. Aw-w-w-w-w, and Christmas is just a few weeks away. They won't be getting any money from me this year.

Can't stand flip floppers when it comes to trying to skew an election. To quote a stupid old politician (first and last time, I promise!) "You are either with us or against us." Sinclair advertisers are going to learn that people don't take kindly to companies passively sitting on the fence and try to play the "my dog ain't in this fight" game with our election process and then expect to make money.

[bigpathpaul]

10. Important question: Would the Pfizer response to Mattel do any good.

I just posted at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1128120&mesg_id=1128120

Please let me know if you think a similar "news release would work for Mattel (or if you think it would work at all).

For what it's worth: Pfizer has refused to distance itself from Sinclair and the anti-Kerry documentary. This is a page highlighting that issue. If you think it'll do any good please forward and/or post it with no restrictions. I realize this is only one of many sponsors (but, they are huge!), but it's a start perhaps. I thought it would not only put Pfizer in a position to make a decision, but also add an increased financial burden to Sinclair's financial woes.

I HAVE VERY LITTLE TIME TODAY. IF YOU THINK THIS WILL ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE, PLEASE POST IT ANYWHERE ON DU YOU CAN, PLUS OTHER SITES WHERE THE SINCLAIR ISSUE IS VISIBLE.

This is in response toa DU forum post at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1122087

Reduced-size version shown below.

The full size PDF should be downloaded from: http://bigpath.net/politics/NewsLink/index.html



http://www.bigpath.net

[Iceburg]

11. Dump Sinclair completely or we dump you -- my motto

[ClassWarrior]

14. This was my reply to Progressive's similarly wishy-washy reply...

...and perhaps a variation of it would work with Mattel.

"Dear Ms. X:

With all due respect, you don’t understand the point of my original letter. This isn’t about “advertising in, around, or near” or sponsoring any particular program. This is about a broadcast company that has consistently abandoned its responsibilities to the American people as a licensee of our airwaves. And with a gutless FCC in office, we the people have no other alternative but to appeal to your better angels as members of the business community to use your economic power to demand an end to this ongoing abuse.

In case you didn’t bother to read all the way through my letter, which outlined Sinclair’s pattern of partisan and irresponsible behavior, I’ve attached it again. Please do me the courtesy of reading it all the way through – and doing a little follow-up research if you’re not entirely convinced – before you reply to me again. If this is too much trouble for you, trust me, you will have seen the last of my hard-earned dollars.

Sincerely,

(CW)"

24.