“Companies are tricked into signing up with some vague, nice-sounding name, and then they realize that what they signed up for has turned into a monster and has become highly political.” Photo: John Lawrence
The Conservative MPs say the UK's biggest advertising firms risk being 'caught in a culture of cancellation' after they join a campaign linked to activists organizing a boycott of the centre-right media.
The UK's five biggest advertising companies are members of the Conscious Advertising Network (Can), an organization that says it wants to break the 'economic link' between advertising and 'harmful content'.
However, Can was created and staffed by activists involved in the controversial “Stop Funding Hate” campaign, which led to boycotts of news outlets such as the Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express and GB News. Coutts' decision to close Nigel Farage's bank account due to his political views.
Comparison to Stonewall
They also compared it to organizations that have signed a contract with Stonewall and allowed the charity to influence their gender policies.
Can, founded in 2019, has seven “manifestos” that it asks members to include in “all agency newsletters and requests for proposals.” The manifestos tell brands how to improve their performance on sustainability, hate speech, disinformation, diversity, ad fraud, informed consent and child welfare.
Its members include five of the UK's biggest ad agencies: Omnicom, Publicis Media UK, The Interpublic Group, Dentsu and WPP through its media investment group GroupM. Can's members include Virgin Media O2, Nationwide and Innocent.
But Conservative MPs have raised concerns about the organization's ties to Stop Funding Hate, which is forcing advertisers to sever ties with conservative news outlets.
Stop Hate Funding has also drawn criticism because of the views of some of its employees.
Defending Hamas
The Telegraph previously reported that campaigner Amanda Morris defended Hamas and shared the “From the River to the Sea” slogan— a slogan often used at rallies calling for the destruction of Israel.
Stop Funding Hate helped develop Can's hate speech code, which requires brands to “avoid media advertising that incites hate based on race, religion, national origin, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability, or any other group characteristic.”
Can co-founder Jake Dubbins was an “unpaid advisor” to Stop Funding Hate, while fellow co-founder Harriet Kingaby was previously a director of Reliable Media, the company name of Stop Funding Hate and Stop Funding Heat, an affiliate organization that campaigns against climate change.
Alex Murray, Can's head of advocacy, meanwhile served as a Stop Funding Hate community organizer for four years.
Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Dubbins Ras criticized advertising magazine The Drum's decision to receive sponsorship money from GB News, stating that his relationship with the channel was a “difficult position.”
“Turned into a monster”,
Lee Anderson, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “This is like the Stonewall campaign. Companies are tricked into signing under some vague, nice-sounding name, but later they realize that what they signed up for has turned into a monster and become political.”
Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield, said: “In recent days, we have seen that the banking sector has been taken over by a culture of cancellation.
“It's very disturbing that this kind of takeover is happening in advertising and that the so-called 'conscious ad network' is defrauding so many famous people that, as we now learn, it is run by a group of far-left, politically motivated activists from Stop Funding Hate.”
Sally-Anne Hart, MP for Hastings and Rye, said: boycott of TV channels by brands.
“If these companies and ad agencies want to do 'conscious advertising', they'd better find another group of people to run their marketing strategies and stop outsourcing the campaign under Stop Funding Hate.”
“Seeked advice from many groups”
Commenting on Can's behalf, Mr. civil society.
Stop Funding Hate was one of 23 organizations that helped create our six original manifestos to combat ad fraud, diversity, informed consent, hate speech, child welfare, and misinformation, all of which are strongly associated with the government's Internet Safety Bill.
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“At the time of its inception, the Conscious Advertising Network held informal meetings with Stop Funding Hate, but has not been formally contacted since.”
They added: “The Concious Advertising Network is a strong supporter of free speech and we have never called for an advertising boycott based on political views. The Conscious Advertising Network's mission remains clear: to create a secure, inclusive, and commercially viable information ecosystem for advertisers and society at large, supporting quality journalism and content, media diversity, and academic consensus.”
We reached out to advertising firms for comment.
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