Advertisers Still Wary of Imus? Ha.

"Will an Imus Return Get Backers?" wonders Ad Age.

Let me field this one: Yes. Yes it will.

Never mind that advertisers are supposedly taking a cautious, wait-and-see attitude towards the Craggy One's return. They always do that -- it's a good bargaining stance. And never mind that the National Association of Black Journalists, which played no small part in getting him booted from CBS Radio and MSNBC, is already protesting his likely return courtesy of Citadel Communications.

Let's face it: HarperCollins knows that people will buy bullshit memoirist James Frey's new book. CBS knew it was only a matter of time before marketers lined up behind Kid Nation. And Citadel knows no force on earth can keep advertisers away from Don Imus, provided he still has an audience, and provided he doesn't immediately engage in more race-baiting and make them run for cover again. And even if he does, they'll be back eventually.

This is the world we live in. Why should marketers have a long memory for outrage when the rest of us clearly don't?