The campaign for an advertiser boycott of NotW: how you can help
by Sunny Hundal
Updated at 2:15pm – Expanded list of 16 companies below!
On Monday afternoon we heard the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler’s phone. Yesterday, Channel 4 revealed the tabloid had spied on a senior police officer as he was investigating suspects with links to the NotW.
Today, its reported the police believe that bereaved relatives of 7/7 had their phones hacked. The police are also investigating claims that parents of the Soham girls also had their phone hacked.
Enough is enough. Boycotting the paper itself is unlikely to have much impact as most of you probably don’t buy it anyway. Instead we have to target advertisers. This is where we need your help.
Today, as a campaign for a public inquiry kick-starts, we are launching a joint campaign across blogs and Facebook (a dedicated website is also coming) to target NotW advertisers.Here’s how it can work
Companies are listed below.
1) Contact as many as you can and politely but firmly express your disapproval. Model emails at the end. And an email page is here2) Tweet at them if you can.
3) Let us know what they said below in the comments or through the contact us page.
We (bloggers, journalists) will then call them to ask if they plan to carry on supporting the NotW with their advertising. Hopefully, public pressure and growing momentum will force many more to reconsider.
Names of top advertisers who haven’t pulled their advertising by the afternoon will also be read out in Parliament! More on this later.
* * * * * * * * * * * ALREADY OUT (updated with Political Scrapbook)
1. Ford Cars
2. Mumsnet
3. Halifax / Lloyds Banking Group
4. Virgin Holidays
5. Coca-cola
6. The Bodyshop UK
7. Debenhams
8. Vauxhall
9. Cadburys
10. Renault
11. Natwest
12. Marks and Spencers
13. Cooperative
14. Aldi
15. TalkTalk
16. Mitsubishi Motors donating ad spend to charity.“ACTIVELY CONSIDERING”
T-Mobile 07017 150 150 t-mobile@brands2life.com @TMobileOfficial Virgin Media 020 7909 3286 Asam.ahmad@virginmedia.co.uk Dixons 01727 205019 mark.webb@dixonsretail.com nPower Orange OTHER TOP TARGETS
BT 020 7356 5000 newsroom@bt.com Boots 0207 908 6506 bootspressoffice@lexispr.com Morrisons 0845 611 5111 Superdrug 020 7896 3404 Superdrug@z-pr.com Unilever 01372 945925 ukpressoffice@unilever.com Proctor & Gamble 01932 896090 pgpress.im@pg.com Three 0845 603 8333 three@parys.com * * * * * * * * * * * Campaign in association with Political Scrapbook, Left Foot Forward and this Facebook group.
* * * * * * * * * * * MODEL EMAIL
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am a regular customer of [INSERT COMPANY NAME] and writing to express my displeasure that you still advertise with the News of the World tabloid.
It has been reported that the NotW has been caught repeatedly hacking into phone voicemails, including that of the murdered girl Milly Dowler.
Such behaviour is disgusting and unacceptable and I’m appalled that you continue to associate with them.
I hope you will consider pulling your advertising from the News of the World, or I shall consider boycotting your company too.
Yours sincerely
[YOUR NAME]Please amend that as much as you like. If everyone sent the same letter they might get suspicious.
If you want to add more information or make suggestions or report back on what you’ve heard from advertisers, please leave a comment below.
FINALLY – spread the word! Tweet these details (which will be updated throughout the day) and post it to your Facebook wall!
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
The campaign for an advertiser boycott of NotW: how you can help | Liberal Conspiracy
