Remember the brouhaha over advertisers pulling their ads from Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News Channel? She jumped ugly on Parkland high school student/activist/tv star David Hogg after he was rejected for admission by several colleges. The advertisers caved to social media pressure from the left who are only too ready to call for boycotts of Fox shows at any given moment.

Well, Ingraham left for a week’s vacation after that. We were told it was a long-ago pre-scheduled week off and I tend to believe that. She has three kids and it was spring break time so it seemed a logical explanation. She returned after that week and that was that. Then I noticed something odd on Twitter, as is often the case. SlimFast proudly boasted of no longer being an advertiser of her show. What? A full week after everyone else pulled out,  they seem to have decided to jump on the bandwagon.

We have stopped advertising on the Laura Ingraham show and have no plans to resume in the near future. We are also monitoring all ad placements carefully.

— SlimFast (@SlimFast) April 10, 2018

Sounds ominous, right? “monitoring all ad placements carefully.” Have they taken a look at CNN lately? This happened on Tuesday. Also, Blue Apron followed along, also on Tuesday, though I don’t find a tweet in their timeline making the decision known. Someone dropped the ball on that. Isn’t the whole idea for companies to boast of their boycotts on Twitter so they receive cred from the angry left? The self-righteous preening is like a badge of honor.

Wednesday brought the announcement that IBM was joining the boycott.

Laura Ingraham’s mass exodus of advertisers is picking up steam, as IBM quietly pulled its advertising from “The Ingraham Angle.”

“IBM no longer advertises on the show you referenced,” a spokesman for the company told TheWrap.

The tech company becomes the 23rd sponsor to boycott the show in recent days.

Ingraham’s list of advertisers has dwindled significantly since the uproar began. After the “whining” tweet, “The Ingraham Angle” has had its ad time cut roughly in half, according to CNN. Tuesday night’s show featured advertisers including Visiting Angels, Experian, Sandals Resorts, Spectrum, Ovation Hair, Blue-Emu, MyPillow, Red Lobster, Gilead, WaxRX, WeatherTech, Contrave and a couple of local advertisers.

IBM, her only blue-chip sponsor, failed to put out a tweet on their decision, too. Most companies involved haven’t seen approval or disapproval numbers move much on their brand names. While Fox News publicly supported Ingraham, Hogg didn’t accept Ingraham’s apology. Of course, he no doubt knew that his inability to accept an apology would bring a little more attention to his cause. He’s quite media savvy, as are his handlers. Hogg’s ready for his close-up, Mr. DeMille.  (From MarketWatch)

YouGov BrandIndex examined the daily consumer perception “buzz scores” before and after the brands stopped advertising, asking consumers whether they had heard more negative or positive buzz about the brands in the news, advertising or through word of mouth. Office Depot ODP, -0.97% Tripadvisor TRIP, -1.22% Johnson & Johnson JNJ, -0.48%  and Expedia EXPE, -0.91%  had bumps of less than 1 point, while Ruby Tuesday, Hulu and Jos. A. Bank TLRD, -0.56%  had dips of less than 1 point.

So, apparently, Ingraham isn’t quite finished with this boycott thing. It certainly isn’t a brave or bold move at this late date for companies to decide to join in. It really seems weak and insignificant.