Over the last week or so a row has broken out between Associated Newspapers and its two titles The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, and Ed Miliband the leader of the Labour Party. For those of you outside the UK the start of the argument was The Daily Mail writing a piece in which they claimed that Miliband\u2019s father Ralph \u2018hated Britain.\u2019 Ralph Miliband (who died in 1994) was a well-known and respected sociologist and academic who held Marxist views. He fled to Britain in 1940 from his native Belgium when the Nazis invaded, and subsequently fought for the country in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.<\/p>\n
Midway through this row Lord Sugar went on Channel 4 to suggest that advertisers should boycott The Mail to \u2018teach the paper a lesson\u2019 (I paraphrase) .<\/p>\n
I should make clear where I stand. I loathe The Daily Mail. I hate what it stands for; I hate its attitude towards the gay community, towards Muslims, towards working mothers, I hate its ability to instil a sense of fear and mistrust amongst its readers. I won\u2019t take a free copy if I\u2019m offered one on a plane, even if I\u2019ve nothing else to read. I rather approve of The Guardian reader who wrote to her paper on Friday to say she secretly hides copies of The Mail beneath piles of The Guardian in her local newsagent \u2013 as she knows that will be the last place anyone will look for them.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m not a fan.<\/p>\n
However, whatever I may think of the paper I think it is wrong for any advertiser to boycott any media form because of an editorial opinion it expresses. It\u2019s acceptable to pull ads as a result of a newspaper\u2019s illegal behaviour (as happened when several large advertisers pulled their money from The News of the World), it\u2019s fair enough to exclude a title from your plans because it\u2019s overall stance is dissonant with the values of your brand or organisation, but it\u2019s unacceptable to do so just because you disagree with what the paper has to say on a particular topic.<\/p>\n
The UK is fortunate to enjoy the benefits of a free press. It\u2019s wrong for anyone to try to stifle any opinion and to impose some form of pressure \u2013 be that monetary or political \u2013 on those who write and edit our newspapers.<\/p>\n
Many years ago my agency\u2019s largest client became very upset with a mainstream TV channel that had screened a documentary in which this advertiser was portrayed in a poor light. We had naturally avoided advertising in that show, or anywhere near it. The day after the programme aired I took a call from the CMO telling me that the CEO wished to pull all planned expenditure on that channel. I argued strongly against this \u2013 and I\u2019m proud to say I won the argument.<\/p>\n
The line between advertising and editorial is frequently blurred these days, but there is still a line. Advertisers should stay on their side of that line. Once they cross it they\u2019re weakening the very reason why audiences consume these media forms, which ultimately is as bad for advertisers as for the rest of us. Once the line is crossed it we\u2019re on the way towards saying farewell to a free press.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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