Boycott of The Ingraham Angle
The boycott of The Ingraham Angle was a boycott of companies that advertise their products during the Fox News television show The Ingraham Angle. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg initiated this boycott after the show's host, Laura Ingraham, ridiculed him amidst conspiracy theories related to the shooting at his school in 2018, in which seventeen people were murdered and where Hogg was a witness and survivor. Ingraham' had mocked Hogg after he was rejected by four colleges despite his high GPA.
Hogg accused Ingraham of cyberbullying and he suggested that his followers tell her show's sponsors to cancel their advertising purchases. In response, several advertisers left the show, after which Ingraham apologized. Hogg dismissed the apology as insincere, and he and his supporters continued the pressure campaign on her show's advertisers.
More than 20 sponsors stopped advertising on the show. Public polling showed that public perception of Fox News declined more than that of any advertiser. Advertising rates for the show declined slightly, and the amount of advertising during the show was reduced by as much as half.
The boycott resulted in mixed reactions. Supporters of Ingraham's position included her employer Fox News, musician Ted Nugent, and Russian web brigades. Back on the air after a week on a pre-planned vacation, Ingraham described the boycott as "Stalinist" and blamed leftists for working against free speech. Hogg intensified the boycott in following months, further raising pressure on the show. In 2020 S&P Global attributed a decline in Fox News advertising revenue to the boycott.
On March 24, Never Again MSD was a lead organizer of March for Our Lives, a global student-led demonstration with some demands to change gun law in the United States. More than a million protestors attended more than 800 events around the world.
Hogg reported to his own social media which colleges had offered or declined admission to him. On March 27, 2018, TMZ published an article listing all these schools. The following day Fox News personality Laura Ingraham ridiculed Hogg, tweeting: "David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" Hogg responded with a tweet that listed her advertisers, and suggested those advertisers be boycotted.