Acting locally about Kimmel

I'm interrupting my current blog hiatus (which has been quite positive; I'll write about it soon) for what I consider a public service.

Anybody I'd want to be around is, like me, utterly outraged that Mudface Caligula has fired Jimmy Kimmel, and that the corporate overlords at Disney and Sinclair did the Führer's foul bidding in pulling the late-night host off the air. I've been saying all year that we are in a dictatorship now, and surely we are.

Yesterday I saw an interesting take on how to fight back. A veteran TV meteorologist said that the best thing you could do was watch your local Sinclair news, see who was advertising, and call the advertisers to tell them you're boycotting their business unless and until they stop supporting Sinclair. That sounded like valid advice to me.

And so you can see where this is going. Here in Portland, the odious Sinclair outlet is KATU-TV, Channel 2. I watched their 11:00 news last night and wrote down who the advertisers were. And in a stunning bonus, the newscasters showed a few slides of other businesses around town from whom they've gotten "promotional considerations" lately. It's a gold mine for those of us who want to do something, even if it's just a little, local thing.

So here goes. This first batch are the businesses who actually ran ads last night. If you decided to call any of them, even just a couple, you might want to tell them that:

1. You saw their ad on KATU.

2. You're upset that Sinclair fired Jimmy Kimmel, and Sinclair owns KATU.

3. As long as their ads are on KATU, you're boycotting their business and telling everyone you know to do the same.

You'd want to ask to speak to a manager. Or the marketing department. And you'd speak slowly. Cordial, but firm.

Okay, then, here's the first batch. I've rounded up phone numbers for the ones most likely to pay attention:

• Mercedes Benz of Wilsonville  503-454-5000
• Gresham Subaru  971-358-4804
• SpringRidge at Charbonneau (senior living) 971-224-7298
• Dick Hannah Dealerships  360-256-5000
• Sunset Heating & Cooling  503-662-9427
• Swickhard Honda  503-722-5000
• Gresham Toyota  503-667-1135
• TerraFirma Foundation Systems  866-832-0167
• McCord's Vancouver Toyota  360-253-4440
• Hillsboro Auto Wrecking  503-648-8944
• Broadway in Portland (Keller Auditorium)  503-417-0573
• Double H Western Wear in Salem 503-362-4973
• Oregon Charter Academy 503-897-2272
• Xfinity
• Toyota.com
• Moderna mNexspike Covid vaccine
• Nissan
• Your Local Ford Dealer
• Window Nation
• Wove Jewelry
• Kubota
• Hyundai
• GMC Trucks
• PNW Ram Dealers

Now, this next group, I'm not exactly sure of any of the details, but they were shown as providing "promotional considerations" to Sinclair/KATU. To them, I guess you could say:

1. You saw their name on the KATU News as a marketing partner with Sinclair.

2. You're upset that Sinclair fired Kimmel, and Sinclair owns KATU.

3. As long as their name is showing up on your TV as a partner with KATU, you're boycotting their business and telling everyone you know to do the same.

• Stoller Family Estate 503-864-3404
• Inn at Spanish Head 541-996-2161
• City Liquidators 503-238-4477
• OnPoint Community Credit Union 800-527-3932
• Pacific Office Automation 503-601-2228
• Rick's Custom Fencing & Decking 503-669-0795
• Sawtooth Roofing 503-258-8017
• Providence Health & Services 503-215-4300
• Touchmark in the West Hills (senior living) 503-954-1640
• Hillsboro Hops 503-640-0887
• Pacific Power 503-813-6018
• The Standard (insurance) 971-212-9549
• Shilo Inns 800-222-2244
• Portland Timbers
• Portland Trail Blazers
• AlertNest
• Stackla
• Travel Oregon
• Keep Oregon Green
• Visit Hood River
• Clackamas Fire
• C-Tran

And with any of these folks, you would tell the truth. If you honestly can't boycott them (as in, I like having electricity in my house), you could tell them you're upset and will be talking about it, a lot. You could improvise. For example, with Pacific Power, you might tell them you'll be at their next rate hearing to talk about it. Even monopolies don't like it when you bad-mouth them.

Okay, I'm signing off again now for a while. If you do make any calls, let us all know in the comments how it went. I'll pick a handful of businesses, too, and report back on what happens. 

Maybe my next post will be from South Sudan, but I'll try to get wifi.