Have the good people at Hoover found a way to increase customer loyalty by not running ads? Maybe: The company announced that it will stop advertising with ABC to protest the network's cancellation of "One Life to Live" and "All My Children."
Also read: ABC Daytime President on Soaps: 'The Strongest Will Survive'
Brian Kirkendall, the vacuum company's vice president of marketing, says on Hoover's Facebook page that Hoover will pull ads by Friday to express its disappointment with last week's cancellation of the soaps, which have run for more than four decades.
"I want you to know from me personally that we hear you loud and clear," Kirkendall wrote. "My wife and mother are both passionate viewers of 'All My Children' and 'One Life to Live,' as are many of my colleagues here at Hoover. We were and are as disappointed with this news as you are."
Also read: ABC Axes "One Life to Live," "All My Children"
If Kirkendall's move plays with customers, it would be a rare case in which a company win customers over by pulling ads, rather than by advertising.
Companies often pull ads out of concerns that a show will offend viewers. But it's rare, to say the least, for a company to pull ads because it's offended by shows being cancelled.
Kirkendall tells soaps fans the company is "150% committed to doing what matters most to you" — and promises to forward any customer complaints sent to SavetheSoaps@Hoover.com to Hoover's contacts at ABC.
The campaign is unlikely, however, to make any difference: ABC Daytime president Brian Frons has already told TheWrap there is no way he will bring the soaps back.