LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A dispute over the name “Concentra” that was triggered by a backlash over ads that ran on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program has been settled.
Louisville-based Humana is the parent company of Concentra Health Services, a nationwide chain of health care clinics. Maine-based Selfworx.com is affiliated with the Preval Group, which aired an ad for Concentra memory-enhancement pills on Limbaugh’s show on March 5.
Humana sued Preval for trademark infringement on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Louisville, saying it received angry phone calls, emails and web postings after the Concentra pill ad aired on Limbaugh’s show. Limbaugh has been criticized for attacking student Sandra Fluke over contraception. He apologized but has lost advertisers in the backlash.
Concentra Health and the Portland, Maine-based Preval Group are not related.
The Preval Group agreed to stop marketing its pills as Concentra and either rebrand or destroy any stock bearing that name.
Jackaline Rutter, a brand manager for Preval, said the company didn’t buy an ad targeted at Limbaugh’s show. Instead, Preval purchased Concentra pill advertising to air anytime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. that day and it just happened to air during Limbaugh’s broadcast in the New York market.
Rutter said Preval, a marketing company that sells the memory pills, has discontinued advertising on Limbaugh’s show.
“Preval is disappointed by the recent offensive comments by Rush Limbaugh,” Rutter said. “Preval will consider the concerns of our customers and the public with respect to further advertising on the Rush Limbaugh show. “
Concentra Health Services, based in Addison, Texas, runs more than 320 medical centers in 40 states offering occupational medicine, urgent care, primary care and physical therapy.
The dispute came to a head on Monday, when the Preval Group aired an ad for the memory pill on Limbaugh’s radio show. Humana doesn’t advertise on the radio show, but officials say the Preval Group’s ad has resulted in people contacting the health care company and criticizing it for supporting Limbaugh’s show.
Concentra Health Services Vice President for Marketing Nancy Buttyan said in an affidavit that the company has been subject to “universally negative” posts and Twitter comments about the ad. Buttyan also said she’s responded to 30 to 40 emails from the public, including a Kentucky customer who said “I will stop using your services.”
Concentra has posted a link to a statement on its website labeled “Not On Rush.”
“We are not affiliated with this company or this product in any way. We apologize for any confusion created by this event, but assure you that this advertising is not from our company,” the company said on the website.
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- In this Jan. 13, 2009 file photo, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh talks with guests in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Limbaugh apologized Saturday, March 3, 2012, to a Georgetown University law student he had branded a “slut” and “prostitute” after fellow Republicans as well as Democrats criticized him and several advertisers left his program. The student, Sandra Fluke, had testified to congressional Democrats in support of their national health care policy that would compel her college to offer health plans that cover her birth control.
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