Olive Garden: It's us or Them

[Joanne98]

Run time: 02:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxy2pMxldgA   Posted on YouTube: June 21, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 21, 2009 By DU Member: Joanne98 Views on DU: 2095

 
Americas lunatic fringe is waging a jihad. Ive had enough. What about YOU?

We all know what happened.. David Letterman made a joke about Sarah Palins daughter Bristol & A-Rod Todd and Sarah Palin LIED, and were the first to introduce the word rape into a sentence involving their younger 14-year old daughter. I will not mention her name. I wont use that word in reference to a minor, like Sarah and Todd Palin did. David Letterman apologized once, he apologized TWICE.

But that wasnt enough. Opportunists ever, Palins camp includes the bizarrely aggressive conservatard radio host John Ziegler, and theyre trying to get David Letterman fired.. and to make that happen, theyre putting pressure on his sponsors to drop their advertising on The Late Show. And so far, a few have caved in to the screaming and screeching coming from the people who refuse to get along with everyone else.

The issue is no longer whether a late-night told some jokes, although thats where it began. The issue is whether were going to be pushed around by the extreme far right, whether were going to let it happen again.. like we were with the Iraq War, with the Patriot Act, like what happened to the Dixie Chicks, to Bill Maher, to Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, to anyone who dared question their mania.

So to those companies pulling out of the Late Show, Im telling you: If you choose to side with the false accusations of Sarah Palin and John Ziegler, youll do it without MY money.

Olive Garden is owned by Darden Restaurants of Florida: We start with you.
Call, E-Mail or Write to tell Olive Garden/Darden that we do NOT accept yet another Lunatic Fringe pressure campaign, and if they abandon the Late Show, WE abandon The Olive Garden.

https://www.darden.com/abt_contact.asp
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 593330
Orlando, FL 32859-3330
Office Location:
5900 Lake Ellenor Drive
Orlando, FL 32809
407-245-4000
Olive Garden Media Relations
[e-mail]
Darden Media Relations
[e-mail]


Unilever, makers of Hellmans Mayonnaise, and Southwest Airlines.. were watching YOU too.

To paraphrase Bill Maher, if you ride with Sarah Palin, youre going to ride ALONE.

[Bluzmann57]

1. Man Olive Garden is a pretty good place to eat

But I am with you. If they pull out of Letterman's show because of this stupid Palin crap, I will not eat there again. And an email is on the way.

[Joanne98]

2. Thanks

[zbdent]

9. not any more around here ...

when I want something like that, I go to Spaghetti Warehouse, or there's a nice little mom and pop place I go to these days. They're still holding their own, but they're scared ...

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Will do - I enjoy Olive Garden

[Joanne98]

4. They probably get their ingredients from China.

All the seafood raised in anti-fungal drugs. YUK!

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. So what is your point?

Support Olive Garden in this, or not?

You OP gives me the impression you want Olive Garden to ignore the kooks on the right.

Which is it?

[syberlion]

5. Here is a copy of the email I sent, I also sent a copy to Dave...

... via the CBS comments section. I didn't find the Letterman show's email :(

Anyhow, here's the email:

To Whom It May Concern,

I have watched David Letterman for the majority of my adult life and I have eaten at the Olive Garden many, many times. I will continue to watch David Letterman, however I will not continue to support the Olive Garden or other restaurants in your company. This is a cowardly move on your company's part, to allow a lunatic fringe element decide where you will spend your advertising dollars, well I can only imagine that type of thinking may affect the food as well. I will not eat food that may be affected by fringe lunatics.

Fact: Less than 25% of Americans identify themselves with the Republican party. That means you are potentially loosing 75% of market share by not advertising with David Letterman. I am part of the 75% who will continue to watch David Letterman.

Thank you for your time,

[Joanne98]

6. Why thankyou syberlion

Good job

:hi:

[rhett o rick]

7. 75% of market means nothing when dogma is involved. nm

[rhett o rick]

8. See message for link to direct comment form. Send many.

https://www.olivegarden.com/company/contact_us/Default.asp?

[liberalhistorian]

13. Done, thanks for that link.

I think they're much more likely to pay attention to comments coming directly from their website than they are from any other avenue of communication.

[customerserviceguy]

11. One really great thing I learned from moving to NY

a couple of years ago, is how lousy the Olive Garden tastes compared to genuine Italian restaurants. People here laugh when I tell them that folks out in the Pacific Northwest considered Olive Garden to be a good Italian restaurant.

Of course, my Northwest friends make the same laughing noises when I tell them that East Coasters think that Dunkin' Donuts coffee is "the bomb"!

[paulsby]

19. the pacific NW in general has uneducated palettes and mediocre (at best) food

i say that as somebody who has lived pac NW, hawaii, socal and new england.

it really amazes me how bad the food is in the pac NW, but it's mostly because people here are rarely exposed to good food.

in hawaii, even a little mom and pop HAS to be good, because people know good food and won't pay for crap.

for example, we have all this awesome fish here. i've eaten decent fish and chips maybe 2 times. and i say DECENT, not excellent.

seattle has a couple of good steakhouses, but any decent sized city does.

in general the food is bland, prepared in a lackluster careless manner, etc.

some of the natural resources here are phenomenal, though. i;m getting some geoducks in a couple of days. as somebody who grew up eating freshly caught clams and mussels on the east coast, i'll put the geoduck up against any clam.

dunkin donuts coffee is passable. it's better than (burnt) starbucks, but that's not saying a lot.

the advantage to having all this crappy food is that i had to learn to be a much better cook myself. it is rare that i eat out and have a meal that is better than what i make at home. i make my own pickles, kimchi (although there are a few good places to get excellent kimchi), gravlax, etc.

pac NW also wouldn't know good deli food if it landed on them

[customerserviceguy]

22. You are correct

especially about the cooking, it's a good thing that I learned how to cook while I worked in a restaurant as a teenaged dishwasher. My lady loves the fact that I do all the cooking for us.

But I do miss the great microbrew beers of the NW! And it was easier to get a great deal on a nice bottle of NW wine, they sold it in the supermarkets, and there was always something delicious on sale. In most of the East Coast, it feels like Prohibition just ended a year or two ago. I lived in Utah for six months, and it's really not that much worse there!

[paulsby]

23. i'll give ya the microbrews

we do rule in that regards.

a good beer is like bacon. adding it to almost any meal, makes it better

[customerserviceguy]

27. I cook with beer

Every once in awhile, I spill a little into the food!

[OR Ruminator]

12. Here is the Olive Garden Comment page:

Here is the Olive Garden Comment page.

https://www.olivegarden.com/company/contact_us/Default.asp?

I left a message there, too.

[Tx4obama]

14. Olive Garden did not cancel Letterman ads

The Olive Garden restaurant chain may not have been happy with David Letterman’s jokes about Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, but no order was issued to pull commercials from Mr. Letterman’s show, a spokesman for the company said Thursday.

Rich Jeffers, the spokesman, said Olive Garden was attempting to counter what he called “erroneous information out there,” which he said came from the Web site Politico. The site posted a report by Andy Barr on Thursday saying that the restaurant was “canceling all its scheduled ads” on Mr. Letterman’s show for the rest of the year. -NY Times

[KataVideo]

28. but he didn't say

But the second statement from Olive Garbage did NOT say that the company isn't following Zeigler's harassment campaign. The second statement deliberately muddied the waters. Darden is trying to play both sides, and I want sarah palin's fingers out of my food!

Darden has to come clean. Either Darden is pulling advertising from Letterman because they caved to a fringe, ultra-rightist pressure campaign, or it isn't. There's no middle ground.

[bitchkitty]

15. Right on!

I just left a message at OG's website:

"I wish that the Olive Garden had not bowed to pressure from the extreme right when they pulled advertising from the David Letterman show. Although I am on a fixed income, I do eat out occasionally and the Olive Garden is often one of my choices.

This whole issue has been blown way out of proportion, and is being used as a way to fan the flames for the extreme right, and by the Palins to keep themselves in the public eye. It is a bullying tactic, with no regard to their daughter's feelings or well being, in spite of all the screeching going on. He was talking about the 18 year old, and anyone with an IQ greater than that of a breadstick would know this, and does know this.

I believe that you have hurt yourselves more than you helped. I expect you'll find that you will lose more business by pulling the ads than you would have by ignoring the screeching morons.

It's a pity - I like Olive Garden's service, and would like to eat there again, but feel that it would be giving the wingnuts my approval of their display of fake outrage. Please reverse your actions and decision, so I can feel comfortable going to Olive Garden again!"

[DKRC]

16. Great message bitchkitty

:yourock:

[Thickasabrick]

17. I like the sentiments but that video is creepy imo. n/t

[Joanne98]

20. The right's been making videos like that threatening to kill us....

He's just giving them a taste of their own medicine.

[Touchdown]

18. I'm with Bill Maher.

Somebody will have to tell me how to boycott a restaurant I'd never go to in the first place.

[Tx4obama]

21. Olive Garden did NOT cancel Letterman ads

Olive Garden did NOT cancel Letterman ads

The Olive Garden restaurant chain may not have been happy with David Letterman’s jokes about Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, but NO ORDER was issued to pull commercials from Mr. Letterman’s show, a spokesman for the company said Thursday.

Rich Jeffers, the spokesman, said Olive Garden was attempting to counter what he called “erroneous information out there,” which he said came from the Web site Politico. The site posted a report by Andy Barr on Thursday saying that the restaurant was “canceling all its scheduled ads” on Mr. Letterman’s show for the rest of the year. -NY Times

[MrModerate]

25. What was I thinking? Trusting Politico to report accurately? My bad. n/t

[Joanne98]

26. It doesn't matter. Darden is a nest of right wing snakes and this fight is on!

[KataVideo]

29. the fight is on

damn right

[MrModerate]

24. My letter to the spineless twits:

I have been a satisfied customer of Olive Garden (and a number of your associated restaurants) for some years. I appreciate the menu, the service, and the family-friendly atmosphere.

However, I am unlikely to visit any of your restaurants again if you voluntarily succumb to the blather and threats now coming from two-bit politician Sarah Palin and her wacky supporters, trying to gin up outrage over a late-night comic’s admittedly wrong-headed (and multiply apologized-for) joke. Giving in to such harridans just contributes to the coarsening of the country’s political rhetoric and is a clear sign to bullies of all sizes that their tactics work.

I acknowledge that you get to put your advertising dollars where you think they should go; similarly, I put my discretionary dollars where I think they will do best, and I categorically will not put any of them into a business that supports blatant intimidation by politicians whose manufactured affront is so phony it wouldn’t convince a two-year-old.

If you ride with the likes of Sarah Palin and her fake fury, you ride alone.