Walgreens leads ad flight from Duggar show

Walgreens is the fourth major retailer to pull its ads from the damaged Duggar family's reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting.

But as of Wednesday, more than a dozen other advertisers had abandoned the show and the TLC network, including Sherwin Williams, CVS pharmacies and food giant ConAgra Foods.

Like General Mills, Payless ShoeSource and Choice Hotels before it, the Walgreens drugstore chain disclosed its move in tweets to customers and on its Facebook page.

Similar tweets were posted by ConAgra Foods.

CVS told customers, "Thank you for reaching out. While our current advertising campaign includes the TLC network, we have not and will not advertise during the '19 Kids and Counting' program."

Critics of the network and the Duggars online have been keeping pressure on advertisers and keeping tabs of who's pulling ads or vowing not to advertise.

Coffeemaker Keurig tweeted it does not and will not advertise on the show.

Earlier this week, Walgreens had told concerned customers it would continue to "monitor" the crisis over the Duggars, whose conservative Christian family-values brand has been undermined by a sex-abuse scandal.

Eldest son Josh has acknowledged he was investigated for molesting underage girls as a teenager, and his pious parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, acknowledged they knew about it and worked to make sure he never was prosecuted for it.

The TLC network pulled reruns of 19 Kids from its schedule but has not decided whether to cancel the show outright. The show currently is not in production.

The network has declined to comment about the departure of major advertisers.

Walgreens' decision follows similar moves by Payless and Choice Hotels on Tuesday, and General Mills last week, shortly after InTouch magazine broke the story about Josh's hushed-up past after it obtained copies of the police records, since destroyed.

Wednesday, InTouch was back with another story, this time reporting that, even after the Springdale, Ark., police closed their investigation of Josh without bringing charges in 2006, he and his family were investigated by the state Department of Human Services for possible child abuse.

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the investigation, the magazine reported the results of the inquiry are sealed and that Josh Duggar filed suit against the department after that, but that case is sealed, too.

Amy Webb, spokeswoman for the Arkansas DHS in Little Rock, confirmed that all child-abuse investigations in the state are confidential; she can't even confirm there was an investigation, she said.

She said such investigations typically begin with a call to an abuse hotline, which is then referred either to police (for serious criminal allegations) or to DHS. In the latter case, investigators then conduct a safety assessment of the home, interview the alleged offender, victims, family members, neighbors, teachers, etc., and then issue either a "true finding" or "unsubstantiated finding," she said.

If investigators issue a "true finding," the offender's name goes on a state "child-maltreatment registry," which is confidential but can be checked by employers, nursing homes, day care centers, and the like. It is not open to the media or the general public, she said. People who are listed on the registry can appeal that finding to a court, she added.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Duggars, though largely outnumbered by critics outraged about hypocrisy, are trying to help the family weather the crisis and keep their show on the air in the future.

The Duggar Family Blog, which describes itself as a source of "encouraging" news about the Duggars, is collecting supportive remarks from fans and providing email links to the advertisers who have pulled their ads so fans can complain.