Cigna, the health care corporation, has stated that it has withdrawn sponsorship from the ABC show, “Nothing Sacred.” Cigna has now become the 24th advertiser to pull sponsorship from the show. The others 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 and Telecom*USA. This list does not include local advertisers who have also withdrawn sponsorship from the show.
William Donohue had this to say about #24:
“Cigna is to be congratulated for its courageous and morally responsible decision to drop sponsorship of ‘Nothing Sacred.’ By contrast, it speaks volumes about the degree of courage and moral responsibility of those advertisers who remain.
“More games are being played by Disney/ABC. They have just announced that ‘Hiller and Diller’ is being shelved until December and ‘Over the Top’ has been axed. In the six weeks that ‘Hiller and Diller’ aired, it averaged 26th place in the rankings, compared to 85th place for ‘Nothing Sacred.’ ‘Over the Top’ only aired for two weeks and in both instances it posted better ratings and shares than ‘Nothing Sacred’ ever achieved (comparisons in terms of rankings cannot be made because ‘Nothing Sacred’ did not air last week).
“None of this can be understood in conventional terms. ABC previously cut ‘Time Cop’ and has pledged to let ‘You Wish’ die a natural death after the 13th episode. But, like ‘Hiller and Diller’ and ‘Over the Top,’ these shows have no agenda behind them. They live and die by the ratings. ‘Nothing Sacred,’ however, lives on-despite its rotten ratings-precisely because Disney/ABC has a politically-vested interest in keeping the show on the air.”
