Message To Carmakers: Pull Ads From News Of The World, Donate To Charity Instead
The News Of The World scandal rages on, with pressure mounting from Parliament, investigators, and the general public. Now an anonymous executive suggests that car companies who had planned to advertise in the tabloid should donate the money to charity instead.
“If we had advertising booked with the News of the World the advert would have been due to be submitted yesterday,” said the source. “So the question is what would we have done if we had booked space? The problem is car manufacturers will be contractually bound to pay for that space—and even if they pull it they’ll have to pay anyway. So we thought the most popular choice would be to submit an advert for a charity instead. All car manufacturers—in fact all advertisers—should do that.”
Mitsubishi has been the only company that’s taken up this offer, donating their ad stream to UK charity Childline. The carmakers who currently advertise in NotW include Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Vauxhall, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Renault—and all the manufacturers contacted have no future advertising planned. There is no word on whether they will be making a donation to charity instead, however.
[Sources: Car Dealer Magazine, The Guardian]
UPDATE: News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch has confirmed he will shut down The News of the World over the hacking scandal.
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