‘Imus in the Morning’ Losing Advertisers

Several U.S. companies dropped advertising on Imus in the Morning in the aftermath of Don Imus’ slur against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

General Motors Corp. and American Express said Wednesday they will pull their advertisements from his program, The New York Times said.

On Tuesday, office-supply chain Staples and Miralus Healthcare, a pharmaceutical firm that makes a HeadOn headache medication, said Tuesday they asked MSNBC to remove advertising from the television simulcast of Imus’ radio program and run their commercials elsewhere.

Procter & Gamble went a step further, saying that, for now, it would withdraw all advertising from MSNBC’s daytime schedule.

We have to think first about our consumers, said Jeannie Tharrington, a P&G spokeswoman, so anyplace where our advertising appears that is offensive to our consumers is not acceptable to us.

Imus called Rutgers team members nappy-headed ho’s on air after the NCAA women’s basketball championship game.

Beginning Monday, Imus’ show will be temporarily off the air, after CBS Radio — which owns the New York station where the show originates — and MSNBC imposed a simultaneous two-week suspension.