What if they gave a boycott and everyone bought?  Looks like the case with high school gun control activist David Hogg after Fox News host and radio star Laura Ingraham hurt his feelings on Twitter and he responded with a call for a nationwide advertiser boycott of Ingraham's television show.

According to Breitbart News, citing Newsbusters:

A campaign led by anti-gun activist David Hogg aimed at the advertisers of Laura Ingraham's Fox News show The Ingraham Angle appears to have backfired, as her ratings have reportedly risen by over 20 percent.

"Since Ingraham returned from vacation on April 9, total viewership of her program has averaged about 2.7 million (Monday through Thursday; Friday's numbers are not available)," Newsbusters reported.

"Compare that to the ratings from March 26 through March 29, the Monday through Thursday just prior to the boycott: That week, Ingraham's total viewership averaged 2.23 million," it continued.  "The increase in her ratings since the boycott began is more than 20 percent."

Seems that Hogg's petulant refusal to accept Ingraham's apology for an off-the-cuff rude tweet, followed by his massive tantrum calling for millions to be pulled from Ingraham's show, didn't go over well with potential viewers – who apparently flocked to Ingraham's show.  Who knows: maybe they enjoy ad-free TV.  But more likely, they wanted to support Ingraham, and this was the best way to do it.  Hogg made things worse for himself by aligning himself with Washington's sleaziest operation, Media Matters, a far-left smear outfit bankrolled by billionaires and dedicated to silencing dissident voices, particularly those at Fox News.  That act shifted Hogg's cause from gun control, always a loser with the public, to media control, an even bigger loser's cause.

Hogg gleefully thought he had Ingraham over a barrel and was briefly amazed at how much power he thought he had as advertisers pulled out.  But ultimately, his absurd hurt-feelings boycott just wasn't an issue the nation could rally around.

Laura Ingraham.  Photo by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia.

What's nice about this is that all the cowardly boycotters who loudly pulled out of Ingraham's show are eating crow now.  They missed out on all the new eyeballs that might have considered buying their products after seeing their televised ads.  The tiny number of advertisers who remained, such as MyPillow.com and Ace Hardware, which pulled out and then came back, are likely reaping in the bang for their advertiser bucks right about now, especially since Ingraham endorsed their products and, at least in the case of Ace, said she was buying some of them herself.

The other nice thing is that the era of the hair-trigger boycott on corporations may now be over.  Hysteria and hurt feelings have no place in public discourse, something advertisers will take note of and grow a backbone on instead of just panic.  The silent majority is real out there, and it expects steadiness from corporate backers.  Maybe young David will learn it, too.  For now, he's slipped from the news and is best remembered for childish petulance on Twitter and anchoring himself to losing causes.