4 Companies Pull Ads From '19 Kids and Counting' –– General Mills, Walgreens Among Sponsors To Cut Ties After Josh Duggar Molestation Scandal
May 27 2015, Updated 5:45 p.m. ET
The hits keep coming for the Duggars, as four companies have now withdrawn their advertising dollars from their TLC show after Josh's molestation scandal came to light.
As of early Wednesday, General Mills Inc., Walgreens, Payless Shoesource Inc. and Choice Hotels International Inc. had all withdrawn their support for the program 19 Kids and Counting, as its home network TLC has stopped airing episodes without any further clarification of where things stand with its future.
Some of the companies, including Payless and Choice Hotels, took to Twitter to declare that they had cut ties with the show in the wake of Josh Duggar's admission of "wrongdoing" a dozen years back.
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The hotel chain told followers, "We share your concerns and we have decided to remove our advertising from the show," while Payless said, "We are taking steps to have our ads removed from future episodes."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the 27-year-old Duggar stepped down as the executive director for the FRC Action, a subsidiary of the Family Research Council, after reports surfaced that he'd inappropriately touched five underage girls between the years 2002 and 2003. Duggar was not charged in the incident.
The exodus of sponsors mirrors the corporate shunning of others, such as Tiger Woods and Paula Deen, embroiled in controversies.
19 Kids and Counting, which has been on the air for seven years, has been one of the network's top-rated programs, averaging 3.5 million viewers a show this past season.